


Second Chances (we will belong)

by LouBigSpoon



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: All of the following happen like after 100k, Alpha Harry, Alpha Liam Payne, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Anal Sex, Beta Zayn Malik, Blow Jobs, Bottom Louis, Childbirth, Explicit Sexual Content, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Friends to Lovers, Hand Jobs, Implied Mpreg, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Death in Childbirth, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Kid Fic, Knotting, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Medical Procedures, Mpreg, Omega Louis, Omega Niall, Oral Sex, Outdoor Sex, Rimming, Shower Sex, Single Parent Harry Styles, Slow Burn, Smut, Top Harry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2020-03-16
Packaged: 2021-02-18 07:54:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 146,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21840823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LouBigSpoon/pseuds/LouBigSpoon
Summary: Omega Louis Tomlinson is a paediatrician who comes from a life of luxury, but losing his daughter at childbirth makes him immerse himself into work to forget. Insert Harry Styles, an alpha that plays the cello for the London Symphony Orchestra, whose daughter catches a cold at ten days of life.Boom, they meet, and Louis becomes the child's paediatrician because they actually do get on.Years go by and Harry's daughter gets severely sick, and they have to do wonders to save her.Or the AU nobody asked for where to save the child's life they have to move mountains, and maybe one of those mountains entails a pretty big plot twist, another one the feelings they stored under the tag of "friendship" for over five years, and the last one contains the fear of giving in to the unknown.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan/Shawn Mendes
Comments: 22
Kudos: 115





	1. Before I

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! I Uhm... *insert awkward stuttering*
> 
> By the way, the plot twist isn't that big of a plot twist but I just didnt want to give away too much at the description. 
> 
> The main plot of this work is based off of a Brazilian soap opera called "Amor à Vida" that I watched when I was twelve and I loved it so much that I had to do a fanfic around it. I changed some things, though, and I hope you like it as much as I do. 
> 
> If u here to read the nasty you gotta wait 100k words and I ain't even sorry. 
> 
> So, as you probably guessed, this is a slow burn medical AU, so grab some food and start reading pals.
> 
> Also in wattpad, in @Larry0wnsMyAss, and under a different name but it's the same fic. 
> 
> So, hope you really like this (and if you do leave kudos and comments please). I'm still learning how the publishing side of AO3 works so bear with me. 
> 
> Without further adieu, I'll leave you to my baby.

_**April 27th, 2011, 11:30 pm.** _

Louis just wanted to go home. His inner omega was screaming at him to get inside his nest and never leave until his baby was born, but there he was, stuck in a medical conference. He thought it would be a great idea to sign up to that conference a few months prior, thinking it wouldn't be too uncomfortable being 36 weeks pregnant and listening to a great number of stupid theories, surrounded by fancy people with fancy dresses and fancy food and alcohol. He just wanted to be home, in his nest where he felt safe. But no, there he was, sitting -finally- in a restaurant and having a conversation with a colleague and her husband.

Everyone looked at him judgingly. No one could understand how a pregnant omega could be out and about so far along in his pregnancy and without his alpha, and what was worse, without a bonding mark. No one seemed to understand his independence, how he never felt like he belonged in the category he was born in. And now that he was pregnant everything was way worse. He just wanted to be done with it already, have his little pup in his arms and never have to go through that again.

Everything was aching, his feet, his back, his head, everything. He couldn't bring himself to even drink some water of how nauseous he was, he felt more than off. Another thing he noticed, his belly was tight, but he adjudicated said fact to being on his feet for hours prior and having to be up so late, moving so much.

"Louis, do you feel okay?" Linda, one of his colleagues from his father's hospital asked him, clearly noticing something was wrong with him.

"Yeah just, I think I'll go refresh myself a little. Be right back"

And just like that, he made his way to the bathroom, slowly but surely. When he got there, he freshened up his face, splashing some cold water over it. Finally, being alone in a much calmer environment seemed to be what he needed to calm down and feel a little more at ease. And that was until he felt one of the worst pains he ever felt in his life.

It started on his lower back, spreading sideways to his belly from bottom to top, hardening it. His breath got caught in his throat, his hands could only grip on the counter; mind only praying that it wouldn't be what he was thinking it was. There was no way to know, he had never given birth before and for sure, he had never had a contraction as strong as that one.

He thought he could stop internally panicking when he felt said pain dispelling away, but he immediately made up his mind when instead of keep calming down it reached a point and started getting harder again. Now it was coming to his lower belly, getting it hard at touch. He held onto the allowance the fancy bathroom had and to take the biggest amount of air he could before the pain got worse. He knew he had to stay calm he was a doctor for god's sake, he had to know he shouldn't be getting nervous while on labour.

God, he was in labour. At the bathroom of a restaurant. In the middle of a conference. And the only thing he craved more than anything was the heat and smell of his nest, waiting for him at home.

He felt another sharp pain in his lower back and immediately after felt a warm liquid running down his thighs, getting his black formal trouser getting soaked.

"Oh my god no..." he moaned, only to feel another contraction hit him less than a minute after the last one.

He was trying to convince himself that labour couldn't be that fast, that he needed time to dilate, but he also knew that he could have dilated without noticing it, he was a doctor, and now he was having his baby in a bathroom, away from everything that made him comfortable, made him feel safe. That experience would be traumatizing for sure.

That was when he knew he would be delivering his baby on a dirty bathroom, alone, when minutes went by and he felt how, instead of diminishing, his contractions only got stronger and stronger.

There was a moment where some people entered the bathroom, to be honest, neither does he recall how many people were there, nor does he remember their faces. He just has an imperative need to push, to get the little puppy finally out of his system. He wasn't even thinking that the pup still had one week left before it could be classified as a fully-grown baby, neither was he thinking about its gender or anything. He felt how someone helped him get down on the floor, not before taking his trousers of, and the next thing he knew he was pushing.

"You're doing well sweetie, take a break" he heard a woman talking him through the process, but he can't remember her face. And to be honest it wasn't as if he were following the instructions he was being given, he just did as his body told him to, letting his repressed omega see the light. His omega knew what to do, he took the wheel and guided him through the birthing process as if he had done it before. "Now I need you to give me the hardest push you can, okay? Your pup's head is almost out" he could barely hear her, being too overwhelmed by the sound of his own blood rushing through his ears.

And so, he did, grunting out of pain as he felt the head of his cub leave his body, making him feel less heavy all of a sudden. Luckily the woman was quick to untwist the cord out of the baby's neck because Louis just couldn't stop pushing. He needed that pup out of his system, he needed that right then. He pushed and pushed until he felt how the weight of the baby left his body, synchronized with every contraction and doing as best as he could.

Not too long after the head came out, came the rest of the body, leaving him a sensation of emptiness and void, yet relief was running through his veins.

"It's a girl!" he managed to hear just as the woman who helped him deliver placed the little crying cub on his now flattening stomach.

"Hi, little one" he managed to greet his daughter, lying on his chest now and being stimulated by the woman who helped him give birth so she would keep crying. She was a strong pup, really vigorous and responsive just fresh out of the womb and all. She had lots of longish dark hair covering her head, and her tiny hands were closed up in little fists as she cried, being welcomed into the world by all the people there present. "Hi baby girl" he enunciated again taking the first look to his daughter.

"She's really strong" the woman, named Michelle, complimented him, looking at the tiny yet strong girl laying on Louis' chest. And surprisingly enough Louis was able to take a look at her and acknowledge her. He faced a black woman of very dark complexion, with beautiful curly hair all over the place. She was just gorgeous. He smiled at her genuinely and took another look at the tiny bundle of joy that resided on his chest, finding out that her eyes were finally open, revealing a beautiful newborn blue colour. "What's her name?" Michelle asked him, looking fondly at the newborn.  
"Olivia" he muttered, feeling the exhaustion of delivery kick in. "Olivia Tomlinson. Is... is it past midnight?" he nodded and smiled when everyone in the room nodded, not wanting words to disrupt the tranquility and beauty of what had just happened. "April 28th my girl"  
The bathroom went silent, and all the people who had witnessed the miracle of life just stared at the new mother. However, noise and panic came back when they all saw how Louis lost his strength completely, blacking out before their eyes.

He just couldn't keep them open anymore, and the last thing he remembers is the room spinning around him while the tight hold of his little girl's hand on his finger grounding him like an anchor.

-

Definitely, waking up from that was the hardest part. He recovered his senses little by little and as soon as he was able to gain control of his hands, they went straight to his abdomen, realizing that it was as deflated and soft as it had never been. Soon after that his eyes opened wide and looked around the room, finding that instead of being warm and protected in his nest he was in a hospital, cold and completely alone. He looked for his baby, maybe a crib or anything, but the only thing he found was his older sister, Georgia, looking down at him with pity.

"What happened?" He managed to ask, noticing how dry his mouth was.

"You're back. Thought you wouldn't wake up" he heard from his sister. "You gave birth while in that conference" suddenly, some memories started coming back to his mind, not everything, sadly.

"Where's my baby? I... I want to see her" he talked, speaking with more clarity.

"Lou..." a shiver went down his spine when he heard the tone of his sister's voice.

"Where is she?" He asked, trying to get himself out of the bed and panicking as no answers were being given to him.

"I'm so sorry, Lou" he hears right before her watery eyes let out the first tear out.

"What?" and just as his voice came back, it left. "Please, no" he had never spoken in such a low volume before and was internally pleading that what he was about to hear wasn't what he thought it was.

"When..." she breathed in deep. "When we got there, she wasn't breathing anymore" Georgia explained, sitting down on the armchair right beside her brother and holding his hand, supporting him.

"No..." he was already sobbing his heart out; his beautiful blue orbs getting red.

"Doctors say they don't know if before or after birth. She... one of the doctors said she had a malformation on her heart."

Louis just couldn't breathe of how hard he was crying. The little pup he had been waiting for thirty-six long weeks, the one he had idealized every single night since he found out of her existence, the one he was dying to meet and loved more than anything, was gone. And he couldn't even remember her face, he couldn't remember anything of it. His heart was breaking apart in little pieces, each and every single one of them beating for his baby girl, who was now resting in god's arms. Or that was what he liked to think at least.

"I want to see her" he managed to get those five words out in between his sobs, and his sister's face only sunk in deeper pity.

"Lou, you've been out for two days. They've taken her already." Georgia tried to explain, but Louis was entering the second stage of grieving: the aggressiveness.

"I want to see her!" he shouted, wanting nothing more but feel his little cub in his arms again, just for a little while at least. "Don't take her from me!" he kept on shouting, hoping that maybe that would bring his little princess back to him, where she belonged.

"Lou..." Georgia took a risk and hugged him, getting some kicks and punches since the only thing Louis wanted right then was his baby, nothing more. He was a raging omega, that was pretty dangerous on itself.

"Get away! Go out!" he screamed at her; rage and pain painting the normally beautiful blue of his eyes than then could only be off and cloudy. By being in that state he was risking a shift, and sure enough, there was nothing good an omega wolf in that state could do other than running away, hopefully. "My girl... my sweet girl" he started rocking himself back and forth on his bed, crying still and longing for his cub, completely empty-handed.

It broke Georgia's heart seeing her little brother like that, but she could understand. So, she left, not before calling a nurse so they could sedate him. She knew her brother like the back of her hand and knew he needed to grieve on his own, albeit she had never seen him so close to inducing a shift. She not only reckoned but was positive that with her brother's temperament taking over him in wolf form, the best thing that could happen was have him running away. She didn't even think about all the people that could get hurt if they had the disgrace to encounter him. Nothing more dangerous than a raging omega looking for their cub.

What is surprising still is thinking that said tragic moment in Louis' life would be the starting point for one of the best things he could ever aim to find.

Not too far away, in London as well, and that same night that Louis lost Olivia, Harry Styles was on the verge of going mad. His girlfriend and who he thought was the love of his life was laying on their nest, hugging her huge stomach so tightly he was afraid she would be hurting herself. Labor had started a couple of hours prior to that, and Harry's mind was a mixture of anxiousness, excitement and fear, all colliding with one another. Fear because they knew that Isabella's pregnancy was high risk. Harry was an alpha, she was a beta, and although possible, having a safe delivery was out of question. Betas' bodies weren't made for bearing an alpha's pups, taking a knot only was almost unbearable. Excitement because it meant that journey was coming to an end, and it would be the beginning of a new chapter with their sweet boy, Theo. And anxious because he had no idea how to be a father, and that also scared him.

Hours had gone by already, hours of pain, of suffering, but also hours where the only thing they could feel was happiness. Labour was tough, that was something everyone had told her, but she was grateful still, grateful that she was cleared to deliver her baby at home, on their nest, where he would be best welcomed. The arms of his parents waited impatiently his arrival, longing to kiss his little cheeks and go through that thing people call life with him.

Some more hours had to go by before Isabella's body told her it was go time. Her labour had lasted for almost a day, making it impossible for her to keep going any longer. That cub needed to be out right then. So, she started pushing, having Harry holding her legs apart, wanting to be over with it already.

Harry was sat between her spread legs, ready to help her deliver as much as he could, and for the first few pushes, nothing seemed to happen. He was so nervous that he couldn't find a place to put his hands at, so nervous that he wanted to cry already, and his son wasn't even born. Isabella just kept pushing, completely unaware of what Harry was feeling and focused only on getting that pup out of her. And it hurt like hell. Maybe it was because the pup was big, that was what they had been told by the doctors, or maybe because of the characteristics of the breeding. No one will ever know.

"That's it, Bella, you're doing so good, love" Harry cheered her, helping her separate her legs further. "He's almost here" God, he was so excited. He could actually see his head coming into the world, filled to the brim with reddish-brown hair.

At the point when little Theo's head was about to crown, ready to pop into the world, Isabella started weakening. First, it was her face, you could see how she wasn't pushing as hard as she was before. Still, Harry dismissed that sign, thinking that she was tired because of how far down delivery she had got up to that point.

"Baby, keep your eyes open, okay? Keep pushing, he's almost here" he cheered her, wanting to get her on focus again. But then she couldn't hold her hands up on the top of her belly anymore, and they fell to her sides. ''Baby, look at me" Harry commanded, and she did, only for the tiniest fraction of a second, before her eyes lost themselves, looking behind Harry at nothing in particular. And that was when Harry freaked out. "Bella!" He called for her, but she wasn't looking at him and her head was falling to her right. He knew something was wrong.

He grabbed her wrist, and shakily looked for el pulse point, noticing that it was still there, her heart was beating, but really slowly, weakly. He could feel under his fingertips how her heartbeats were getting more spaced, how her body and soul were unlatching.

"No baby wake up! Theo needs you!" he tried shaking her awake, but it didn't pay off, as he only managed to get her body even limper. He was freaking out, unable to hold on to sanity. The love of his life was dying right before his eyes and he could do nothing about it. "Baby..." he murmured; eyes filled to the brim with tears that were yet to be shed. "Don't leave me" he held her in his arms, putting her on his lap and finally setting free all the tears, coming to the realization that he was losing his love, the person he had loved for 19 out of his 23 years of life. She was going to go and there was no way he could do something about it.

A couple of minutes had to go by for him to take action, for him to realize that his child was midway to earth, and still stuck inside his dying mother. So, without a second thought, he forced the head of the pup out, and with as much care as he could, given the situation he was in, pulled him out into the world.

Right then he couldn't decide what shocked him the most, if the fact that his child wasn't crying, nor was he moving or responding to being born, or the fact that right after him a huge gush of bright red blood escaped from his loved one, and kept gushing out without a stop.

Holding the cub with one arm, he used his free hand to check on Isabella's pulse, taking it at the exact moment her heart stopped. And that was it. He felt the last three weak pulses under his fingertips and just like that she was gone, gone to the afterworld.

"No..." he managed to enunciate as he dropped her wrist, finally seeing how the gush of blood stopped, leaving a poodle of bright red blood underneath them.

That was when he took a look at the child lying in his arms. He wasn't even purple out of the lack of oxygen, completely limp, eyes closed and mouth wide open. If it wasn't for the context, he'd think the pup was just asleep. And he was just pure beauty, covered in blood and all, he was precious.

"Hi, my boy" Harry greeted him, managing to smile a little. He knew he was saying goodbye to both his child, and the love of his life, but still, before saying goodbye, he had to meet him first. "You're so perfect" he touched his little button nose, took in all he could from him, made sure he would remember every single detail of his pretty face because it'd be a long time before they met up again, although right then he hoped it wasn't.

He looked over his body and, in fact, he had been a big boy, compared to newborn standard. He was dirty, coated with amniotic fluid and blood, but Harry could still see what looked like reddish hair on his head, taking that out from his mother.

"You don't know how much I wish I wasn't saying goodbye," he told him, holding his cold little body up against his chest, pulling slightly on the umbilical cord that still connected him to his mum. "You need to promise me you'll take care of mummy up there, okay?" And now he was full-on crying, holding his baby tight to his chest and staining his clothes. He didn't care. "Tell her how much I love her okay? And you both wait for me, we will meet again, I promise" With that he kissed his forehead, not caring about any of the fluids on it, and left him with his mum. He needed to go, needed to leave, but before doing so he placed his deceased pup on his tummy, on his mother's chest, and put Isabella's hand on his little back, containing him slightly.

With that image in mind, he left the flat, going to the backyard the building had. It was late and cold, probably past midnight, but he didn't care. He stripped down completely naked and took on his wolf form, feeling all his bones and muscles twitch and change shapes to allow him to do so. Displaying an enormous, black, four-legged animal with shiny fur he left, running towards the forest. Luckily it wasn't that far from their home, it had been one of the main factors why they purchased that apartment.

His cries could be heard as he ran, and ran, without a particular destination. He just wanted to escape, to run away from everything. He was left alone, once again.

He doesn't recall running for too long, but to be honest, in the state that he was in, it could have been days and he wouldn't have noticed. And that was up until he heard crying. A baby crying. I wasn't exactly nearby, it was just his wolf form allowing him to hear more clearly, but still, he was way too deep into the forest for a baby to be alone there. So, he followed the sound, not failing to track it.

What had to be ten minutes later he found it, lying beneath a three and moving; crying as it was the only method it had to communicate. He approached it cautiously, and once he got close enough, he used his paw to remove the white towel that was wrapped around it.

And a shiver ran down his spine.

It was a newborn, a really tiny newborn, with the umbilical cord clamped with a shoelace and crying its lungs out. God knows how much time it had been since it was left there. That was when Harry shifted back, willing to attend the little one.

"Oh my god" was the first thing he said once he could talk. For once, it was a really tiny baby, and really fresh. He was just in shock.

Not caring about his nudity, he picked the little bundle up, putting it against his chest and trying to get it to calm down. It was difficult, but eventually, the cries ceased, and he was able to take a better look at the baby.

He couldn't know if it was a wolf or a human until further testing was done, but he did find out it was a tiny girl when he uncovered her a little.

"What are you doing here? God, who would do this?" he offered her his pinky finger and immediately she started sucking on it, barely training her suction reflex. That was when Harry understood that she had never been fed before.

Maybe it was because of the conditions the little girl was in, or because of how vulnerable he was, but it didn't take more than a minute for him to think about taking that baby home and making her his daughter. Blame it on the grieving, or in the fact that he is soft, but with one of the towels he swaddled her and with the other one made some sort of a hammock, and after turning back into a wolf he picked her up with his mouth and took her to his apartment.

And for that instant that it took him to make the decision of taking that baby home, he didn't suffer from his recent loss. So maybe it'd be for the better, for the both of them, if he adopted her. That way he could make his grieving process easier and save a child the need of going to the adoption system. However, the love and attachment he already felt for that tiny bundle were overbearing. He could feel her his already.

So, once he got home, he left the tiny girl on the sofa and went to his bedroom, seeing the exact same scene as the one he saw before he left. With shaky hands and trying to keep himself together, he dialed the number of the closest hospital and had them come in to deal with the mess his house and life were.

Not too long after, given the situation, an ambulance showed up, and all that went by in a blur. He remembers the lie he made up at the moment, of how Isabella was pregnant with twins, the girl was born first but as she was delivering the boy, she fell unconscious and both of them died. He didn't even think about it, it came out completely naturally.

Finally, once all the situation was cleared up, and he was being taken to the hospital to make sure the health of the little girl was okay, was that he let himself cry again, holding tight to his newborn daughter, putting her in the place of being his rope, holding him up. She was his reason to be strong and to keep going, and he was not going to let her down as her parents had done.

"Welcome to my world, Eve Isabelle" and with that, he kissed her forehead and gave a starting point to one of the biggest stories he would ever tell in his life.


	2. Before I

Liam, I'm fine" Louis was fed up with all the 'support' his family and friends were trying to give him. 

He had lost his baby girl almost ten days before and he couldn't be on his own without crying, so he decided he would work full time as an excuse to forget the pain of the loss. It worked until Liam showed up and started telling him that he thought he should go home and rest, that he had given birth less than ten days ago and that he should be taking it easy. Louis would just walk away or tell Liam to go away —not in the kindest of ways—. He wasn't in the mood for dealing with his friend's pity. He needed to work to forget the pain. If he was alone, he couldn't help thinking about it. 

He could claim he hated Liam right then but having his best friend being an overprotective alpha, besides being annoying most of the time, was reassuring. His parents' dream ever since he met Liam in college was for them to mate, but they only saw each other as brothers, weirdly enough. 

"You're not and you know it" they were walking towards the emergency wing of the hospital since Louis' night shift started there. 

"I'm fine. I'm not sore, I'm not in physical pain... Liam..." he stopped walking, obligating Liam to stop too. "I need to forget, and I won't if I keep thinking about it." He told Liam, being as gentle as he could. He had been insulting him a ton now that he thinks about it. "... If I keep reliving it. So please, go to your wing of the hospital and work in whatever you have to. My emergency night shift starts in five." Liam nodded, still not being sure if he should let Louis work alone and walked towards his wing. He had talked with Louis enough and he knew he wasn't fine, and he insisted he needed to work. He didn't know how good that was going to be for him. 

Liam had even got to the point of having to scent him, thing they hadn't done in a while. Albeit Liam had no interest whatsoever in Louis as a mate, and in fact wasn't even sure if he was looking for an omega, he had to. He had noticed right away that what Louis needed was the comfort from an alpha, and they like to think that it worked. Sort of. 

Louis shook his head and walked the few steps that were separating him from the door that led into the emergency area. He sighed and got himself ready, putting his white coat over the dark blue scrubs he was wearing. He got into his clinic and sat on his chair, ready to be obliviously his pain during the whole consultation, and then pressed the button that starts the counting watch so the patient who had number one could get into the office. 

And he was able to smell it before he saw it. A very strong, musky but fresh scent filled up his room, and he could be described as drunk. Never had he smelled a scent like that one with hints of something Louis couldn't describe but felt wild. It was an alpha, that he was sure of, and unmated alpha. 

He heard the door being opened and at the same time his pen fell from his desk. He crunched down to take it, trying not to get too affected by that scent given the fact that he'd have to attend said person. God, he was just mesmerized by it 

And he certainly wasn't prepared for the hunk he saw when he got up. His breath got caught in his throat, finding it hard to breathe. 

There was a young man, maybe two or three years younger than him, holding a newborn baby girl on his thick arms and with a pink bag hanging from his left shoulder. He thought he fell in love right away. 

"Hello" he greeted Louis; voice deep and manly, making his legs tremble. Luckily, he was sitting down. 

And then the unnamed hunk took a deep breath in, letting surprise be painted on his face. And, to him, that had been the best scent he had ever smelled, sweet, delicate, with a vanilla undertone. He couldn't stop breathing in, making it hard to contain himself. So, to the better good, he started breathing through his mouth, and that didn't go unnoticed by the doctor. 

"Hello, I'm Doctor Tomlinson." He introduced himself, getting the collar of his coat straight and trying to calm down. "What seems to be the problem?" He tried to be professional, but that guy was really hot, and his scent was severely clouding his judgement. Even if he was emotionally unstable, he couldn't avoid feeling a flutter run through his body, and in order to avoid that, he too started breathing through his mouth. 

"My baby. I think she's got a fever" he finally looked at the baby in his arms. She was a newborn, no more than two weeks old. He suddenly felt nostalgia filling him, and he was staring at the baby with that look. That could've been him, only if he had his little Olivia with him. 

"Let me see" he got up from the comfortable chair and walked towards the hunk with curly brown hair and green eyes. He made the mimic of taking the baby out of her father's arms and he actually growled at him, being protective of his child. After a couple of seconds, when the man realised that Louis wasn't going to hurt her, he gave her to him, keeping a close eye.

"Hi, baby girl" he made a pause, looking straight to her face. He was trying not to think that she seemed to be just like Olivia. Lately, he saw Olivia in each baby he had to attend. The baby was awake but quiet, not crying or whining. "Oh, you look like a really good baby" he placed her in the hospital bed he had. He hadn't cribs since he wasn't used to working with babies that small. 

The first thing he noticed was that probably, the gender of that baby was going to be that of an omega. She didn't have a scent too distinct to her father's, only a hint sweeter. That was what gave it away for him. 

"You know she may be an omega, right?" The man looked confused and approached them. 

"Actually, I didn't" he murmured, looking at his daughter. 

"You won't know until she presents" 

Louis started to take the biggest amount of clothes he could until he left her just in her diapers. He felt the look of her dad, standing right behind him, peeking through his right shoulder. 

"What's her name?" Louis asked, turning around to face the hunk he had as the father of a patient. He had never reacted that way to an alpha, not even one he liked prior to smelling. 

"Uh?" He said distractedly. 

"What's her name?" He asked again. He had the stethoscope on and was putting it on the left side of the baby's chest. 

"Eve" he answered. 

"Well, Eve's heart seems to be fine. I'm going to take her temperature" the hunk nodded, looking at the cautious and careful movements Louis was doing. "How old s' she?" He asked. 

"About ten days, nine if being exact" Louis just nodded. That little girl was born the same day as Olivia. They would be the same age by then. 

"That little and with a fever already?" He asked with a childish voice; the baby looking at him with no expression. He put the thermometer under her right armpit, and she whined and let out a little cry at the cold feeling. 

Louis felt a sharp pain in his chest, more exactly, in his breasts. Ever since Olivia was born, every time he heard a baby cry, his breasts just hurt. It was just so instinctive. As he didn't have a baby, he's been accumulating the breast milk he had, and it was painful sometimes. He had pumped when it became too unbearable, but right then it wasn't an option. 

"Shit..." he muttered at the feeling. The hunk heard him. 

"Are you okay?" the curly-haired man asked; he wasn't pleased. "If you don't want to attend my pup I can go to another doctor, Doctor Tomlinson..." he was going to keep talking but Louis interrupted him. 

"No, just... it's complicated. Mr..." he said, waiting for the curly-haired wolf to say his name. 

"Styles, Harry Styles" Louis nodded. Even his name was hot. 

"Well... Mr. Styles, can I call you Harry?" Harry nodded, letting Louis continue. "Harry... I've been through something bad in the last couple of days. It's just... it's a bit personal..." Harry interrupted him. 

"Well... I still can take her to another paediatrician if you can't take her"

"It won't be necessary." He hesitated before continuing. "Look, I've... almost ten days ago I... this is a bit personal and I shouldn't be telling you this but... I had a stillborn" He didn't know if he preferred having met her and having seen her breathing and alive or just picturing her dead like she was really a stillborn. Harry's face went pale with pity, Louis could tell. "And ever since that, each time I hear a baby cry my... my chest hurts" Harry certainly felt pity. "Like... not my chest in a metaphorical way, my breasts?" He said, making it sound like a question because it sounded weird. Anyway, even if the conversation was weird, he liked to have informal chats with the parents and kids, for them to see him more as a friend than as a doctor. 

"My condolences," he said as if he were giving Louis' his condolences would help him and make him forget about his lost little one. He put a smile on his face and thanked him. 

"It's okay, it's like... I don't know what to do with the milk" he laughed a bit while Harry was still watching him. He looked at the thermometer and saw that it was done. "Well, it seems like this baby girl has a fever. It might be a cold. I'll give you some medicine for her to cool down her temperature and you can go home" Harry gave him a little smile. 

Suddenly Eve started to whine, and then to cry, harder. Louis wanted to run away right then and there, he couldn't stand the pain in his breasts. Harry saw Louis' discomfort look and he hurried to take Eve and start dressing her up. 

"Shit, she's hungry and I didn't bring her formula." He muttered, dressing her up as quick as he could. 

"Don't you breastfeed her?" Louis asked, trying to get his thoughts and head away from the cries and the instinct that was making his breasts hurt badly. 

"No... Long story short. My girlfriend... she... well, she had trouble in the delivery and... she didn't make it. She was human" Louis felt pity for him. He was left alone with a newborn pup, that wasn't cool at all. 

"I'm so sorry" Harry just gave him a tight smile and when the baby was done with her dressing up, he sat in the chair in front of him, rocking the baby and trying to shush her. 

They were in absolute silence. Louis was filling the medical note he had to give him with the name of the medicine he had to give Eve and with the dose as well.

At that moment, a crazy idea went through Harry's mind. It was definitely something Louis wouldn't be willing to do but he didn't lose much for asking. 

"Ehm..." Louis heard Harry hesitate. "It'll sound weird but... like... if you can... I-if you're willing to... you could... breastfeed her?" Louis' eyes opened as plates with that suggestion. He wasn't expecting it at all, he just got surprised. "Genius Harry, you're a genius. Now he must think you're a weirdo" Harry muttered to himself, way more to himself than for Louis. "Look I... my girlfriend and I talked about exclusively breastfeeding her until she was six months old but, as... as my girlfriend is gone and I have to give her formula and... she's not doing well with it..." he was rambling, Louis noticed and, rarely, put a genuine smile on his face. It was the first genuine smile since Olivia. 

"Harry?" He asked, trying to catch his attention. 

"Yes?" 

"Breathe" Harry nodded, laughing softly because of the nerves and how he was making a fool out of himself. 

"I'm sorry... just... It's crazy, just forget about it" Louis shook his head, getting up from the chair he was sitting on. The idea was weird, yes, but it wasn't that bad. Breastmilk is always better than formula, and as he was hurting now because of the loss and the huge amount of breast milk in his chest... Louis thought that maybe that wasn't that bad of an idea. 

"No," he said decisively. "Look, yeah, it sounds weird. Not gonna lie. But it isn't that bad of an idea" Harry looked up, seeing the blue of Louis's eyes stare right into the green of his. That was the first time green and blue properly met each other. Louis hesitated before continuing "I'm... I'm willing to do it" Harry looked at him as he couldn't believe it, nodding in response. 

"Really?" Harry asked in disbelief, quitting the rocking movements he was doing as a way to calm down the baby. 

"Yeah. There's something in for both of us. Breastmilk is always better than formula, that's good for Eve. And I can get rid of this annoying breastmilk that's killing my chest for good. S'a good trade" He was surprised, he talked about that without feeling too self-conscious. 

As the silence filled the room again -but in a way more uncomfortable manner- Louis started to stare at Harry, hoping him to give the first step. And as he notices he wouldn't, he decided to talk. 

"Do you have a pumping machine or something? I mean, to make it less uncomfortable" Louis asked, trying to see how he could deal with that situation. Don't get him wrong, he said he was willing to breastfeed the baby and he is; he just wants to know if he'll do it naturally or with a pumping machine. 

"No... they're way too expensive, I can't afford them" Louis nodded then. It wasn't something bad the fact that he would breastfeed naturally, just, he was a bit surprised that Harry asked him to do that knowing since the beginning that in case Louis accepted, he would have to do it naturally. 

"So... give me the pup?" Harry nodded, handing Louis the baby. She was quiet now, but there was a pout on her tiny and thin lips. Louis cooed at that. "Here we go, little princess. Your daddy told me you're not doing well with formula, ah?" He was talking to her as sweetly as he could, trying to get her comfortable in his arms before unbuttoning both, the coat and the scrub he had underneath. "Well, most of the babies don't so don't worry." He caressed her little button nose, trying to suppress the thoughts of Olivia in his mind. But now it wasn't just Olivia, it was the feelings he was having because of that little baby girl. He knew she wasn't his, he shouldn't be seeing Olivia in her. He took a deep breath before starting to unbutton his gown under Harry's look. He felt self-conscious about his figure. After he gave birth -and before too- his abs disappeared and were replaced by a loose tummy that was still swollen from the recent delivery. His chest was swollen too, giving it the sight of a breast. Louis didn't feel attractive at all. He also didn't want Harry to see him like that, but he couldn't avoid it. Harry was all thick and muscular and there was him, all loose and fat. The fact that he sort of liked Harry wasn't helping the situation. 

Once he got enough buttons undone so his left nipple could be seen, he guided the baby's mouth to it. She latched instantly, sucking hungrily. He felt relieved practically instantly, as a feeling of quietness and realisation filled him. He shouldn't be feeling more than relieved of finally being able to get rid of the milk, he knew it. He couldn't help it though. 

The silence filling the room wasn't comfortable at all. Louis knew Harry was staring at him, and that wasn't helping it. So, he decided to start a conversation, trying to light up the room. 

"So... like, we both know this is an uncomfortable situation so, in order to forget the fact that I'm breastfeeding your daughter, why don't we chat? Tell me, Harry, what do you do for a living?" Harry laughed a bit at the explanation Louis gave, relaxing a bit. 

"Well, I'm a cellist," He said, looking at the sight of his baby and the paediatrician. He liked that boy, maybe he'll ask him to be Eve's main doctor since she hasn't one just yet. 

"Really? I thought you were... I don't know, an engineer?" Harry laughed a bit and shook his head. 

"God no, hate math" they both laughed, starting to leave the uncomfortableness aside. 

"Where d'ya play?" Louis kept asking, also trying to forget the fact that he was this close with a baby, and he couldn't help thinking of Olivia. 

"At the LSO. Also play the violin, but I'm fonder of the cello" Louis nodded in acknowledgement, opening his eyes wide when Harry mentioned the LSO, still rocking the baby softly. She was getting sleepy; he could tell because of her eyes. They were closing slowly, but she kept sucking through. 

"I can play the piano" Louis commented. "It's something all Tomlinson's do. I mean, I'm not at the level of a concertist but I play rather well" Harry put a little smile on his face. He loved music and every single one who was fond of it. 

"We should play something together someday" he proposed, getting more comfortable on his own chair. 

"You think so?" Harry nodded. They let the silence fill the room until Louis felt a little pain on his nipple and asked Harry. "Don't you mind if I change sides?" He asked, clearly referring to the baby. 

"You're the one breastfeeding so be my guest" Louis nodded, taking Eve carefully with his hands, un-latching her from his left nipple. She instantly let a loud cry fill the room; Harry looked at her worried. 

"Honey, shush, we'll just change to the other one," he told the baby, accommodating her into his arms but with her head to the right side. Right after he uncovered his right nipple, she latched to it and calmed down her cries. "See? it wasn't that bad, wasn't it?" She, of course, didn't answer and kept sucking on his nipple. 

"So... what's your name? I keep calling you Dr Tomlinson." They both laughed a bit at that. Louis hadn't told him his name after all. 

"My name is Louis" Harry nodded as if he were analysing it. 

"Pretty name"

"Thanks" Louis thanked, caressing Eve's nose and cheeks. 

"Though I thought your name was... I don't know... William?" Louis laughed hard at the coincidence, still trying to not disturb the baby. "Hey, what's funny?" Harry asked. 

"My middle name is William," he told him once his laughter stopped. "What a coincidence" he added. 

"It suits you though" the both of them were smiling; the tension in the beginning was left aside. 

"You think I should use William instead of Louis?" Harry nodded. "I don't know, I'm too used to Louis" that flirting way of talking had always been part of Louis, he just couldn't avoid it and it was painfully obvious. Though he didn't know why this time it was clearer. He knew the boy had had a girlfriend so he was most likely straight, but still, being an alpha meant that he could fall for an omega if he met one he liked, regardless of their gender. He could only be hopeful. 

"Both names suit you, don't worry," he told him in a jokey way. 

They left the silence fill the room once again, though, this time the silence was comfortable. 

"I think she's done" Louis commented when he felt that she was no longer sucking his nipple. He lifted her up to burp her and saw that she was asleep. Carefully he put her vertically onto the left side of his torso, patting her back lightly until he heard she burped, still asleep. 

"Thank you" Louis heard Harry say. 

"I should be thanking you," Louis said, giggling a little. Harry, rarely, thought his giggle was cute. "It was a fair trade though" both of them nodded, Louis, handing Harry the baby. 

"Thank you anyways" Louis just gave him a little smile. 

Harry put all the things he had on the table into his pink baby bag and he hung it from his right shoulder. He was ready to leave, and when he was about to, Louis stopped him by grabbing his wrist.

"Yes?" Harry asked, turning around. 

"I was wondering, does Eve have a main doctor?" Harry shook his head has he remembered he was going to ask him to be her's. 

"No, she doesn't." He affirmed. 

"Well, if you liked me..." he said, then realising the double sense it could have. "I mean, as a paediatrician... I could... I don't know, be her's?" Harry gave him a smile and Louis thought he would die when he saw Harry's dimples. He loved dimples. 

"Sure, why not?" Louis nodded, unable to contain the excitement. He really liked Eve -and her father as well- and he hoped he'd be a good paediatrician for her. 

He signed her up on the list of patients he was the main doctor of -they weren't more than ten. He could have more, but he didn't want to-.

"Done then" he announced, leaving the computer aside and walking Harry and the sleeping baby to the door. 

"It's been a pleasure," Harry said politely, squeezing the hand Louis was offering. He noticed the size difference, but he didn't say anything. 

"The same I say," Louis said acting professional, closing the door after they were gone.

But when they said goodbye, neither of them was expecting to have a long, long story linking them.


	3. Chapter I

_**October 2nd, 2015** _

"Mrs. Hill, your son is going to be okay. He has nothing" he told the woman, trying not to laugh at the situation. It was the third time he saw that same omega woman in that same week bringing her toddler because of little things like allergies or sniffles. He didn't mind attending them, he even thought it was funny, unlike other paediatricians that hated those cases.

"Are you sure?" Louis nodded with a small grin on his face, keeping the door open so Mrs. Hill and her toddler could leave his office.

"Have a good day Mrs. Hill!" He said goodbye to her, then going straight to his desk to save the information of Matthew Hill before stepping to the next patient. He clicked the button that changed the name on the screen outside and waited patiently until he saw his next patient approaching.

"Doctor Lou!" First, he smelled her, a scent really similar to her father's but sweeter, then heard her, and then he finally saw her, running towards him with her skinny arms open, waiting for a hug.

Eve had changed a lot, and now, being a bit more than four years old, was the most adorable little girl in the world. She wasn't tall, just average, and she didn't seem to be like Harry at all. Sometimes Louis joked about Eve not being his, but Harry never got to like those jokes. Louis never knew why. Eve was slim, with long and straight brunette hair and blue eyes. These were framed by beautiful, long and thick eyelashes. Louis thought that Harry's girlfriend, Eve's mother, must have been really beautiful and strong, genetically talking, because there was no way she would be like that without a mother like her. Harry never showed him a photo of Isabella though, it was like he was keeping the memory for himself.

"Eve!" He shouted, squatting down so he could hug her properly. Behind her, Harry was staring. He had his cello and Eve's school backpack hanging on his shoulder, looking at them with an exhausted look.

"I told you to not run away Evie" he tried to act firm and mad, but Louis could see that he didn't mean it. He has known Harry for over four years, and he could never put limits to his own daughter.

"How's my favourite patient?" Louis knew he shouldn't be making differences between his patients, but he really loved Eve. He didn't know what it was, maybe that he saw her more often, but he really loved her, and she loved him too.

"Good! The teacher gave me a star for my drawing" she told him proudly.

"Yeah, she did?" Eve nodded enthusiastically, running over to Harry and trying to grab her pink and sparkly backpack. She opened it with ease and took from it a sheet, folded cautiously. She came again with Louis and showed him the drawing she was most proud of.

"Look," she told him. The drawing was three messy stick men standing next to a house and a tree, albeit you had to look at it from an abstract perspective to understand it. Typical. "This is daddy, this is me, and this is you" she pointed every single person in the drawing. Louis supposed that one of them was Harry and the other one was her. He never thought she'd draw him.

"Why did you draw me?" He asked in disbelief, still looking at the drawing.

"Because I love you, duh," she said like it was something obvious.

Louis couldn't contain himself and hugged her tight, drowning himself in that familiar scent, embracing her little body with his arms and smiling in joy when he felt she was doing the same. He couldn't see Harry's face, but he could sense his reaction. He was smiling, he knew it.

"Thank you" he exclaimed. "I love you too" he whispered, trying his best for Harry to not notice. But he did. And his grin got even bigger.

For any parent out there seeing his child that close with their doctor would be weird, and even accused of abuse in extreme cases, but for Harry it was natural. Eve had always loved Louis, since day one. When she was a baby, she calmed down instantly when Louis held her, or when she heard his voice. They loved each other, even if they didn't say it too often.

"I want you to keep it," she told him, giving Louis the drawing.

"Are you sure? Your teacher gave you a star for this..." he was going to continue but she interrupted him.

"Yes, I'm sure," she said. "I want you to hang it on that wall," she asked him, and Louis nodded, standing right away and pointing the wall next to his desk.

"In this one?" She nodded as Louis put a bit of masking tape on the back and hung it in the wall, the only wall he had without drawings from the kids he attended. "Thank you, princess" He squatted again and hugged her, having her hugging him back in response.

"You're welcome," she said politely, sitting on the examination table like always.

"Well, tell me, why are you here?" He asked, directing it more towards Harry than Eve. She was too little to know and name what things happened to her body.

"I brought you the last blood tests" it was a routine procedure, nothing to worry about. Louis always sent his patients blood tests once a year or once every two years. He liked to be sure they didn't have anything dangerous.

"Okay... when were they done?" He asked. Normally there was a long or short period of time between the date of the analysis and the day that a doctor evaluates it.

"From two or three weeks ago... September the thirteenth" he checked before saying.

"Well, let me see what we have here" Harry handed Louis the analysis and Louis opened them, being distracted by a subtle pulling on his coat. "What is it, sweetheart?" He asked Eve, who was pulling his coat in search of attention.

"Do you have paper and pens?" All the kids always asked for the same stuff, so he always had on his drawers a huge amount of A4 sized sheets and a box with markers. He handled them to Eve, and she climbed up the examination table once again and started drawing.

"Well, where were we? Oh yeah, the analysis. He took them from his desk, unfolding them and reading them cautiously, accommodating his glasses on the bridge of his nose.

Suddenly his expression wasn't as enthusiastic, and his grin fell off his face. Harry noticed, but decided not to do any comments on that.

Louis finished reading the exams and looked at Harry. He was a bit shocked.

"Harry, do you have the blood tests we did before this one?" Harry nodded, looking for them in an envelope he had with all the hospital things. After a few seconds, he found them and handed them to Louis, who quickly unfolded them and started reading them, comparing them with the recent ones. "Harry, has she recently been complaining about pain, or feeling sick or something?" He asked worried, trying to discard the main options he had in mind after he saw the analysis.

"Not much really." He answered with a worried voice tone. "Sometimes she complains about her ankles and wrists swollen or feeling dizzy but not that much" Louis just nodded, searching through files on his computer, trying to locate one particular case.

"Honey, I'm gonna need you to lay down on the table," he asked Eve while standing up and grabbing some latex gloves. He took his stethoscope as well and walked towards the examination table. Harry was behind him with a worried look, keeping his questions to himself. "Ready?" He asked the little girl and she nodded enthusiastically. He put the stethoscope on the left side of her plain chest, listening to her heartbeat. It was strong, a bit paused but strong. "I need you to take a very deep breath, can you do that?" He asked.

"Yes!" She exclaimed, followed by taking a deep breath through her mouth.

"Does anything hurt there?" He asked her; the stethoscope still on her chest. When she exhaled, she answered.

"My chest hurts a bit, but is okay," she told him with a big smile on her face. Her first tooth had fallen a couple of weeks prior, so her smile was decorated with a hole on one of her top teeth. It was the cutest picture he would ever see.

"Well..." Louis bit his lip and stepped backwards, almost falling when he crashed with Harry's chest. "Go ahead, keep drawing love" she gave him a big smile and continued with her drawing peacefully.

"You're scaring me, Louis" Harry told him, sitting back where he was before and looking at Louis with fear.

"Just... I need you to do her this other exam. It's also with blood but it's more complete. I'm just trying to discard something" Harry just nodded, taking the papers Louis was handing him.

"What does she have?" Harry asked. His voice was getting deeper and worried. Louis didn't like that.

"For now, she has anaemia. Her red blood count is a few levels lower than it should. I'm going to give you a prescription of iron for her to take every day once every twelve hours." Harry just nodded, watching as Louis wrote messily on the medical notes.

"But she's going to be okay, right?" Louis felt bad that he couldn't assure him that. But he was hoping it wasn't what he was thinking it was.

"I think so..." he told him, trying to not assure him of anything he wasn't a hundred per cent sure of. "For now, we're doing her these tests and she should be okay with that" Harry nodded; worry still painting his face.

"W-would you mind giving me an order to do the exams today? The rest of my week, maybe month, it's very busy and I don't know when I'll be able to bring her. I want to be sure she's okay" Harry asked, and Louis could tell he was scared. The oldest just nodded, taking another medical note to start writing before getting an idea.

"Harry, if you'd like I can do the extraction now. I'll get this case, she's my patient and maybe it makes you feel safer." Harry didn't think about it twice.

"Yeah, go ahead." He told Louis. "It'll be better for her too" Louis nodded in response and started taking the things he needed to do the blood extraction from his drawers.

"Honey, I need you to come here a second," he asked Eve, who seemed busy painting whatever she was painting. She left what she was doing and came over to Louis, standing in front of him and next to her father. "We need to do another blood test." Her face wasn't pleased at all, moreover, she was terrified. She hated needles, but being honest, who doesn't?

"Why?" She asked. Her facial expression changed suddenly.

"Because the last one we did was wrong," he told her, changing his gloves for new ones. He wasn't a neat freak, but with everything that had to do with the hospital turned him into one. He couldn't help it.

"And you're going to prick me now?" She asked, still nervous and scared. It was cute more than anything.

"If you don't mind..." he told. "Look, Evie, your daddy can't come another day, and who do you prefer to prick you, me or a random nurse with bulldog face?" He imitated one of the nurses he knew. She was a sweetheart, but the first impression people had of her wasn't good.

Finally, Eve laughed, giving Louis permission to do the extraction.

"Okay, but only if you promise me it's not gonna hurt" Louis nodded, being sure of himself. Only one kid cried when he did an extraction in his whole career. The others always laughed or never noticed. "Pinky promise?" She extended Louis her pinky finger, little in comparison with his. Finally, Louis could say his hand was bigger.

"Pinky promise" Harry smiled at that and sat Eve on his lap, trying to get her focus on the procedure. "Honey, I need you to give me your right arm." She extended her right arm to Louis, getting it straight upon the desk. Louis rolled up her sleeve until he reached the middle of her arm, leaving the back of her elbow exposed. He tied a rubber tourniquet right before her elbow and started touching the inner part of it, searching for a vein. "Close your fist..." he ordered her, still trying to find a vein thick enough to do the extraction. When he did, he took the needle, the catheter and the syringe and assembled it all together to be able to do the procedure.

He looked at Harry and then at Eve's right hand, trying to get Harry to hold it straight. Harry got him, tightening his grip on her arm so Louis could do the procedure.

"Oh my god look at that!" Louis exclaimed, pointing a random place behind Eve. When she turned, he picked her right in the middle of the inside part of her elbow, quickly. She didn't notice and kept searching whatever Louis pointed there. When she didn't find anything, she turned around and faced Louis, who was still using the syringe to suck the blood out of her.

"What did you see?" She asked him, not even acknowledging the needle pricking her elbow.

"Oh, I thought I saw a unicorn. Sometimes happens, they walk through the aisles, but not too often" she nodded, turning around again, hoping to see the magical unicorn. Harry was trying to hide his laugh, making it almost impossible. "You are ready, princess" Louis took the needle out of her elbow and put a ball of cotton right where he picked her.

"You already took the blood?!" She asked surprised. Louis nodded with a grin, putting the things apart and getting his desk tidied. "Whoa, I didn't notice" she commented.

"See? I always keep my promises" he told her while standing up and going to throw his gloves in the trash can. "You two can go home now, you must be exhausted" right in that moment Eve yawned. "Harry, I'll call you when I get the results." Harry nodded, standing up as well while trying not to leave anything behind.

Eve hugged Louis one last time before going out of the room and Louis couldn't help to sit in his chair after they were gone and pray that whatever Eve had wasn't what he was thinking it was. 


	4. Chapter II

We can all agree that nights at the Keith Tomlinson Memorial were an actual nightmare, and that particular one wasn't the exception. The emergency wing was almost full, and Louis was running through the aisles, trying to get all his patients alive. It was certainly a challenge. 

"I need a cardiologist!" He shouted, trying to calm himself down and the mother of the child he was attending. He had cardiac problems and he had had a heart attack a week ago.

"I'm here Tomlinson, calm down," Tom, a common human or formerly known as 'betas' said, getting into the clinic. 

"I'm stressed, too many patients." Tom reached the litter and started examining the boy, frowning as he saw the problem. 

"I know, this is a shitty night man" Louis approached his desk and threw his latex gloves away since Tom was taking care of the boy now. Once another doctor was working in something, he didn't know he would just step back and look. 

"I'm gonna try..." he was going to keep talking but a nurse shouted in the aisle. 

"I need a paediatrician! A girl passed out in room eighty-six!" He heard. He adjusted his gown, ready for the new patient and trying to keep himself awake since he had all the night ahead. 

"Tomlinson coming!" He shouted back, putting in a new pair of gloves and reaching the door. He looked at his mobile, seeing it was already eleven at night. 

"You okay alone?" He asked Tom before stepping out of the clinic he was working in. 

"Yeah, go go," Tom said so Louis stepped out of the room and walked down the aisle searching for the room eighth six. 

He loved the night and emergency shifts, but not in nights like this. This kind of nights just made him want to go home and rest, he felt overwhelmed with such number of doctors and patients running through the same wide aisles, and patients with all kind of injuries being wheeled around. 

He knew he had the option; he knew he could perfectly avoid working on this kind of shifts or working at all if he wanted to. His father was the head and current owner of the Keith Tomlinson Memorial, that hospital was going to be his once his father died. Yes, he had an older sister, but let's say that his father was a bit more of an old-fashioned man and he thought that Georgia wasn't good enough to be the head of such a huge hospital. So, since he was next in line, the enterprise was going to be his. He thought it was unfair to Georgia since she worked really hard to be the best haematologist in the UK, but he couldn't do anything against his father's will. 

He finally approached the room after almost falling because of the speed. He stepped in and saw his favourite patient unconscious on the litter, with Harry beside her, holding her hand. He thought he could hear his heartbreak. 

"Well... what happened here?" He asked, standing right beside Harry, the latter being completely in shock. He could tell the man was crying, he could feel the fear in the room. And seeing that an alpha was cry was a huge deal since they tend to hate looking vulnerable to other people. Luckily Louis had become a really good and close friend over the years, so it was a safe place. 

"I-I don't know," Harry muttered, cleaning the tears on his cheeks with his own thumbs, trying to calm down. Louis started examining Eve, trying to figure out what happened. "She was playing in the living room and then she passed out and I don't know how she is, or what she has, and I'm worried... I don't want to lose her." He was rambling, Louis could tell, but he kept to himself the joke of 'breathe' since Harry was clearly not in a place where you could joke around. 

"You're not going to lose her. It may have something to do with her anaemia. Have you given her the iron prescription I gave you?" Harry nodded, still with tears in his eyes. "She should be okay by now" he muttered, taking her pulse to make sure it was normal. It was, a bit weak but it has always been weak. 

"What does she have?" Harry asked, wiping off his tears and trying to be as optimistic as possible. 

"I have my suspicions but I'm not telling you until I'm sure." He told Harry, still examining the little unconscious girl on the litter. "For how long has she been unconscious?" He asked, trying to be professional and trying to ignore the pressure he felt on his heart as well. It was a kind of worry he had never experienced with any other patient, but when it came to little eve it was natural, completely instinctive. He would slice someone's neck with his own teeth before allowing anything to happen to her. 

"I don't know..." he muttered, standing right next to Louis while he examined her. Harry had never felt that worry before, not even when Isabella had gone into labour and that was saying a lot. "Maybe ten, fifteen minutes? I'm not sure" Louis nodded, finding it strange. Normally patients are unconscious for thirty seconds to two minutes, never more than that. 

"She's staying, okay?" He told Harry, turning around to face him. "I want her to be under medical observation at least until I get the results of the exams we did yesterday." He told Harry, signing Eve up in the income statement of the hospital. Only he, his sister and Liam had enough power to do that on their own and without anyone's advice, the other doctors had to send a nurse to do the paperwork to a specific office. That was quite the perk of being an adult man and son of Mark Tomlinson. 

Louis started to do some things on the computer related to Eve and the room and things she was going to need while Harry just sat beside her and held her hand while he whispered something to her ear. Suddenly those whispers turned into prayers, every time louder than the last time, breaking Louis' heart. It wasn't the first time he heard a parent praying for his or her child to be fine, but hearing Harry like that, all broken and vulnerable made him want to just hug him and never leave him. I may or it may not be influenced by some kind of strange feeling Louis has for Harry that developed throughout the years of knowing him, but what matters is that Louis feels different. Besides the clear alpha-omega interest had been there practically since they met, which wasn't helping at all. 

He chose to just stand beside him and rest his left hand on his right shoulder, as a sign of support. 

"I'm scared" he mumbled, looking up to Louis and letting the blue and the green meet once again, the latter being full of concern and tears surrounding it. Louis heard his own heart crack at the sight. 

"I know..." that was the only thing he could say. It wasn't a lie though. Maybe Eve wasn't his daughter, but he could feel the pain and the fear Harry was talking about. He justified that with the fact that he has known Eve since she was ten days old and that he breastfed her that one time, but he certainly felt a way deeper bond that linked them together, a bond he shouldn't be feeling since Eve is just his patient, not less, not more. He couldn't explain why it was there though, and he didn't like that fact. 

"She... she's just so little. I-I want to protect her, to be sure-sure she's going to be strong w-when I'm not there to-to be strong f-for her." Louis stroked Harry's shoulder, trying to make him feel better or at least comfort him. He couldn't. "Please, tell me she's going to be okay," he asked, desperate to hear those words and feel calmer. 

Louis couldn't tell him that she was going to be fine. His speculations were getting more accurate at every minute; her symptoms were turning out to be the ones that lead to an illness Louis didn't want to see in the results of the exams. 

But, even if Louis wasn't able to tell if Eve was going to be fine, he decided to tell Harry so, because while she's in the hospital and under his care, she was going to get better. It was a promise, more to himself than to Harry, or even Eve. He would heal that little girl that only brought happiness to his world, even if she's just his patient. 

"She's going to be okay," he told him. "I'll make sure of that" Harry looked up at him and Louis gave him a tiny little smile, a smile Harry reciprocated, although it was a sad one. 

"I've always envied the bond you and Eve have... healthy envy of course" Louis gave him another smile. "It's just... It's something I never got to understand, like, as if you were... relatives. You're really close. And I get that we're food friends and all, but still, she doesn't get on like that with Niall, per se. She really loves you." Harry told him, still holding onto his daughter's hand and appreciating all her features. She was certainly beautiful; Harry had always thought that her biological parents must have been really beautiful. Of course, that doesn't wash away the fact that they left her in the forest right after birth and it was just luck the fact that Harry found her before the cold of the night killed her. Harry may not know who Eve's biological parents were -because her true father is him-, but he certainly despised them. 

"Does it bother you?" Louis asked politely, still stroking Harry's shoulder and surprising himself on how thick and muscular Harry was at the touch, but it wasn't the moment to think about what -he couldn't help it though-, much less to talk about it. 

"No, not at all" he answered, still looking at the little girl he was rising and loved with his whole heart. "It feels good to know that we're not alone, that you're there. Thank you." And that definitely broke Louis' heart; knowing that Harry felt alone. And he didn't think about it that much, but it must have been difficult to raise a child being a single parent, and alone since he told him quite a couple of times he felt that way, so he supposed he didn't have family support. They had never talked about family, so he wasn't really sure. "I know you're only her paediatrician but you're also my friend, and she really loves you, you're a huge part of her life. Don't leave, please" Louis wasn't being able to contain his desire of hugging the younger lad, but he kept it inside him as much as he could. The words he was saying were so sweet and were totally melting his heart. 

"I won't, never" he answered, reassuring Harry of that. Louis thought it was a good thing that Harry felt so confident with him, so much he told him things like that. It was a really nice friendship the one they had there. 

They stayed in silence, just watching Eve 'sleep' while they waited for the wheelers to take her to her room in the hospital. After that, they would be able to start a more aggressive treatment once her results came. 

"Louis..." Louis played attention as he heard his name come from Harry's mouth. 

"Yeah?" 

"C-can I have a hug?" He asked and Louis thought he would die because of Harry's cuteness, and how he asked for it. 

"Of course," he said, watching as Harry stood up and embraced him into his thick arms, resting his head on the curve of his shoulder and letting out little cries of worry. Louis hugged him back, letting him cry as he patted his back lightly and whispered phrases like 'don't cry, everything is going to be okay' to his ear.

But it was impossible to avoid taking in the smell of his scent, so strong and manly, coming right from its source, just a couple of centimeters away from Louis. 

"She's going to be fine, okay?" Louis lifted Harry's chin lightly, forcing him to look directly at his eyes and trying to stop feeling drunk in Harry's smell. "I'm not gonna let anything happen to her, I promised She's that and I always keep my promises, right?" Harry nodded and buried his face onto the crook of Louis' neck once again, being a little bit calmer this time. 

Their hug was interrupted by a light knock on the door and the image of the wheelers with the litter, ready to take Eve to her room. 

"Hello, Dr Tomlinson," one of the guys said, approaching them and looking at the tiny body unconscious and lying on the litter. 

"Hi David" he greeted the lad, stepping out of the way to let the guys lift Eve and put her into the transfer bed. "Is the room I asked for set up?" He asked while the guys lifted the limp little body to the other litter. 

"Yes, we set up the suite 368 since the 360 was already occupied, but they're practically the same" Louis nodded at that, turning around to see disbelief painted all over Harry's face. 

"Wait, a suite? Louis I-I can't afford it. Can we just put her in a normal room?" Harry asked, trying to convince Louis. That hospital was already expensive by itself; he couldn't imagine how expensive was that suite going to be. 

"It's on me," Louis said simply, signing on one of the folders one of the wheelers gave him. 

"Wait what?! No, I'm not letting you" Harry said firmly, stopping the two guys that were ready to take the transfer bed to the new room and looking at Louis as they couldn't believe it. 

"Harry, calm down. It's nothing" Louis said politely, typing some kind of information on the computer and turning it off after. 

"Louis, it's too much money, I'm not letting you pay for this" Harry said stubbornly, standing right beside the transfer bed in case the guys stepped out of the room without his permission. 

"Harry please, I'm almost the owner of this hospital," Louis said, standing right in front of the curly-haired man, noticing that he was really tall, more than six foot for sure. 

"That's not important..." He tried to protest. 

"And well, let's say that my father already has a foot in his coffin, so as soon as he dies this hospital is going to be mine so, calm down and let the guys take Eve to the suite" he explained, feeling immediately bad for saying what he said about his father. 

"But..." harry was going to complain but Louis interrupted him. 

"Guys, would you wait with the transfer bed outside please?" Both guys nodded and took the litter, stepping out of the room as soon as they could. "Harry, it's nothing, Yes? I can afford it and I want what's better for her" he excused himself, looking straight into Harry's eyes. 

"I know but..." he sighed, finally giving up at Louis' stubbornness. "I'll pay you every single penny, you know that?" He said firmly but with the tiniest shade of a smile on his lips. 

"No, you won't," Louis said while smirking, walking towards the door so both of them could get out of the room. 

"Yeah, I will," Harry said; the shade of a smile growing bigger into his face. He couldn't believe how Louis could make him smile out of nowhere. He was really charming; it was nearly impossible not to smile while being around him. 

"You won't and I'll make sure of that," he said as the last word. "Come on, go with them. I'll get my shift done and then I'll go check on her" Harry gave him a sweet and tiny smile as a way of thanking him and stood right beside the transfer bed. 

As Louis turned around to walk to his personal office, Harry called him, making him stop right away. 

"Louis!" Louis turned around again, facing Harry. "Thank you," he said truthfully, smiling again, this time letting his dimples show on display, making Louis' heart and brain melt. How could that boy be so attractive even when he had just stopped crying? 

"There's nothing to be thankful for" Louis gave him a smile and continued walking towards his office, meeting with Liam right away. 

He, as the fanboy he is, stopped Louis taking him by the arm and started walking beside him with a grin on his face. 

"What was that?!" He exclaimed. "I want details, now!" Louis sighed, smiling softly to his eagerness. Liam was always like that when Louis sort of liked someone, he started asking about everything and making the weirdest scenarios with the two of them together. It was weird but Louis loved Liam anyways. 

"Nothing just... we had an argument because I wanted to pay for Eve's suite and he wouldn't let me" Liam looked at Louis with a suggestive look, half smirking. He had been telling Louis he and Harry would end up together and having a ton of kids and living happily ever after, ever since Louis told him he found Harry attractive. 

"Yeah yeah, and that thing of the hug and the 'shh, don't cry, everything is going to be okay'? What is it, ah?" Louis muttered a 'shit' under his breath. He couldn't believe how much gossip the nurses carried around, and how fast it spread in that hospital. It was unbelievable. 

"For fuck's sake Liam! His daughter was unconscious, he was scared and asked for a hug! Nothing else" he said, getting a little bit pissed at Liam. Being honest, it was easy to get mad at Liam, he could be annoying sometimes. "Who told you anyway?" Liam didn't answer, instead, he tried to keep a neutral face in order to not betray the nurse who told him. "It was Patty wasn't it?" Louis guessed. 

"Shit" Liam muttered, hiding a giggle after that. That nurse was always gossiping about all the doctors that worked in the hospital, it was a matter of fact. 

"I knew it!" Louis exclaimed. 

"Well, coming back to the main topic, you two are meant to be, I don't know why you're here now instead of being there with him, sucking his cock in the restroom" Louis's face went red as he realized Liam said that out loud and a nurse was looking at them half horrified half amused. 

"Would you please shut the fuck up?" He told him, trying his best for the people not to notice he was as red as a tomato because of the embarrassment. 

"You should ask him out" Liam suggested, taking Louis off guard. 

"I should what?" He asked in disbelief. "Liam, I don't like him that way" well, maybe a little. "I just find him attractive; you know, I have eyes" he reassured. "Plus, he only sees me as a friend, nothing else" he was trying to convince himself because he knew that if Harry gave him the littlest sign of attraction towards him, he wouldn't hesitate to jump into his arms and ask to be mated. 

"You'll never know if you never try..." Liam said with a side smirk. "You need an alpha in your life, Lou, not like me, a mate."

"So, in case I was considering doing so, would this be the best moment? With his daughter unconscious and interned here?" He asked a bit ironically; he knew that it wasn't the best of the situations. "And I don't need a mate, I'm perfectly fine, thank you"

"If you say so... But now that you've mentioned it, what happened to Eve?" Liam asked while they were still walking towards Louis office to get the shift done. 

"I don't know. I have my suspicions and I think it might be..." Louis was going to keep talking but a nurse got in their way and stopped them. 

"Dr Tomlinson, I have the results of the blood exams you did to... Eve Styles" she read her name on the label pasted to the folder, extending it to Louis and waiting for him to take it. 

"I see you later Lou, have a shift to start," Liam said and started walking quickly towards the emergency wing of the hospital. 

"Let me see..." Louis took the folder and thanked the young girl before she left. "Thank you Elizabeth" she nodded in response and walked away, while Louis stood right in the middle of the aisle with the closed folder in his hands. He opened it cautiously as if he were fearing of what was inside of it. He took the folded sheet and unfolded it, facing all the results right away. 

And it definitely wasn't a good thing. His face went pale and his expression went even more horrified as the seconds went by and he couldn't stop reading and rereading those words. 

"Holy shit" 


	5. Chapter III

It had been two hours since Louis found out what Eve had and he couldn't find a way to tell Harry without freaking him out. It was something very difficult to explain, also something quite difficult to treat. That, added to the fact that Harry is the softest alpha alive may be severely counterproductive. But on the bright side, life expectancy was high, people could live perfectly with that illness for more than sixty or seventy years, she was going to be okay. His father himself had had that illness since he was thirty and he was still alive -unfortunately-. That alpha was going to torture him even after death, he was sure of it. 

He took a deep breath before stepping into the room, finding Harry and Eve having Dad and Daughter time together. Harry was lying on the bed beside her and he was reading her a bedtime story. It was a really cute scene, and Louis was really happy to see her awake. The scent though was nauseatingly delicious, a very pleasant smell Iilling the room to the brim. It was a mixture of Harry's musky scent, tinted with the smell of rain and wet ground, with the sweetness of Eve's breaking through. Louis was positive the little girl was an omega, and albeit she wouldn't present up until teenagehood, she was too sweet to be an alpha, and nothing of a neutral to be just human. Unless she was like Harry, which was difficult since young pups tend to be more instinctive and show their true nature, she was definitely an omega. 

"Hi" he interrupted, catching the attention from the both of them and breathing in that scent that had made its way to his heart, residing there. 

"Lou!" she said excited, sitting on the bed and attempting to get up from it put of excitement. 

"No no, honey, you'll have to stay in bed for a bit now," he told her sweetly, approaching the bed and sitting at the end of it, where her feet couldn't reach. He petted her on her legs and she smiled softly, having a little pout hiding behind her lips. 

"But I feel fine!" she complained, finally resting her back onto the backrest. 

"I know, but you're not and you have to rest," he told her, smiling softly at her. Harry was watching them in silence. She made a pout out of her lips and crossed her tiny arms upon her chest. "Come on, don't be like that!" he exclaimed, trying to be more charming than he already was. "If you behave I'll bring you candy, deal?" Her face lighted up at the mention of candy and Louis just couldn't digest how cute and sweet she was, such a pure little girl. 

"Deal!" she shouted, offering her tiny hand to Louis so they could shake it and seal the deal. 

"Now, would you let me have a chat with your daddy?" She nodded enthusiastically and started playing with some kind of doll she had there. "Harry, would you mind talking outside?" he asked politely, waiting for a response from his beloved friend. Truth to be told, they had got really close over the years, and both of them loved having a friend in each other. 

"Course," he said; worry filling his voice, Louis could tell. 

Both of them got up from the bed and walked slowly towards the door as if they were afraid of the chat they were going to have. And they were somehow. Harry was afraid of finding out what Eve had and Louis was afraid of telling him, of seeing his reaction. It was going to be difficult, both of them knew, but it wasn't impossible, they would overcome it. 

Harry closed the door after stepping outside the room, facing Louis immediately after that. He could tell there weren't good news. 

"I... I got the results of the exams" Louis told him, not being sure enough of how to talk so the news wasn't so heavy. How do you tell a friend that his daughter has such condition?

"You got them?" Harry asked, hoping it wasn't what had been chewing on his mind for the last couple of hours. 

"Yeah I..." he was going to tell him but Harry interrupted him all of a sudden. 

"Please, tell me it's not cancer" he pleaded, looking straight into Louis' eyes with worry and fear. 

"It's not cancer," Louis told him. At least it wasn't cancer, because if it were the treatment would be ten times more aggressive for her and also for him. 

"Oh thank god" he exclaimed sighing in relief, feeling all the tension partially leave his body. 

"It's not good though, not as bad as cancer but it's difficult and expensive to treat." Louis tried to break the waters a little bit before telling him what it was exactly. 

"Just... just get to the point" and well, maybe Harry had other plans. Louis just sighed and decided to just tell him. He deserved to know. 

"It's lupus" Harry's eyes went wide open while he sighed in disbelief. He wasn't expecting that, at all. "You-you know what is it, right?" Louis asked, trying to get some sort of reaction from Harry. He wasn't being successful since he stayed quiet and trying to assimilate it. 

"I... I have quite an idea" he said expressionlessly. Louis couldn't tell how he was feeling, it was just so difficult. It was something obvious he wasn't happy but he couldn't tell how mad he was either. His scent was confusing too, having turned slightly bitter. 

"It's... her immunological system is attacking her own organs and cells, and well... if not treated it can cause several failures and... we need to treat her, do... more thorough tests" He was trying to act cautiously since he didn't know how Harry was going to react. He also knew the treatment it implied, and it wasn't the cheapest exactly. He wouldn't mind paying for it but he knew Harry wouldn't let him. 

"What do I do?" he looked at Louis straight in the eyes, letting them get crystallized as tears were filling them up. He felt pity instantly, and the huge desire of hugging him came again but stronger. 

"For now we're keeping her here indefinitely. We need to get her checked and establish what kind of Lupus it is. We're going to start dialysis tomorrow since the anemia she has is because of bad functioning of her kidneys and we'll get some medication for that too" he didn't know how he was doing to organise and schedule all the things they were going to do to her right at that moment. He had contacted no one, he had yet to talk to a nephrologist and many other specialists to make sure she was going to be okay. But he could be proud of himself for making up that treatment since it's not his specific area of working. 

"A-and how much is... is this going to cost?" Louis felt bad about Harry's worry about money. He never thought that maybe working as a cello concert didn't give him enough money to get by, and as he was alone to raise her it must have been difficult. 

He didn't have to think twice about proposing a solution. He'd pay for the whole treatment, it was nothing for him. His father was dealing with the same illness and he already knew specialists and had some equipment he could borrow Harry for the times Eve was home and they can't use the ones at the hospital. 

"I'm paying and I won't take a no as an answer," he said firmly, looking straight into the sad green of Harry's eyes. Harry opened his eyes wide at the statement. He wouldn't let him do it again, it wasn't fair for him to be paying for all the things he should be paying for since Eve was Harry's daughter, not his. 

"No, with all the suite thing is more than enough" Harry denied, staying firmly on his posture. He wouldn't let him, not again. 

"Come on Harry, it's nothing" Louis insisted. 

"Louis, I'm really thankful for all the things you're doing for Eve, but I can't let you pay for her treatment too. It's my duty to do so, not yours" and well, maybe he wasn't being too polite but let him be, his alpha was coming through, showing how he wanted to provide for his family. Don't get him wrong, maybe Louis shouldn't do all the things he's doing for Eve since he isn't her father and it's not the place to do so, but he wants to help, and he is Harry's friend. He felt really attached to Eve, it was obvious he wouldn't think twice on doing anything just for her wellbeing. 

"Harry, it's a really expensive treatment," he said, trying to convince him because he wanted the best for both of them. He had known them for over four years, and although he knew he was going against alpha honor, he deemed it necessary. "I already know specialists, I have some equipment of my own to this kind of situations" he kept trying to convince him. 

"Louis... please, it's too much already. I can't accept it" Harry insisted, refusing to take Louis' help. He could be the most stubborn man in the world if he aimed to. 

Louis was running out of ideas. He knew that this time Harry wouldn't let him pay for everything as he wanted to. But Louis knew how to play, he knew he could get what he wanted if he kept trying. He could be stubborn too. 

"Well, let's do this. Do you have the money to pay for it now?" he asked. He knew that he should have asked more politely, with more finesse, but he couldn't. 

"No, I don't, but I'll get it" he answered, still on his posture. It was going to be more difficult than Louis thought. 

"So I'll pay for the treatment now and you'll pay me back when you get the money. Is that fair enough?" he suggested, hoping Harry would accept. Of course, he wouldn't let Harry pay after that, it was just some kind of trick he was doing to get what he wanted.

"Is it necessary to start doing the treatment right now? Or do I have some time to be able to get the money?" he asked, hoping the answer will be the one that he wanted. 

"Well... We need to start the dialysis tomorrow since her kidneys are having trouble, and the medication we need to get that problem solved isn't the cheapest" Louis told him, telling him the actual truth. He wasn't lying when he said that the medication was expensive, it really was. Eve will need a lot of medication from then on to get her problems solved and to avoid her own body attacking her. It definitely wasn't going to be a cheap treatment. 

"Do I have other option?" he asked, finally giving up at Louis' stubbornness and accepting his help. 

"I think you don't," Louis said half smiling, even if that moment wasn't the best to do so. 

"I'll pay you back every single penny you lend me, you know that, right?" he said steadily as if it were a matter of fact. 

"Yeah, I'm pretty aware of that. It doesn't have to be right away though, take the time you need to get the money, I don't mind" he said sweetly, offering Harry one of the best smiles he could since the situation wasn't good at all. 

"I really don't know how to thank you enough for doing this for us," he said truthfully, wiping the few tears that were attempting to escape from his eyelids. 

"I already told you, you don't have to thank me, I do it because I want to and I can," he said sincerely. 

"I don't get why though. Do you do this with all your patients?" Harry asked, trying to get the atmosphere a little bit lighter. 

"No, I... I hope you don't get things wrong but I really love Eve and I'd do everything that's in my hands to see her happy and healthy and I really love you too..." and he felt regret as soon as he left those words slide out of his mouth. They weren't even meant to leave his thoughts. "In a friendly way, like, you're a really close friend and all, and yeah... I think that's because" Harry nodded with a tiny smile forming on his plushy lips. They were so kissable... Louis shook his head at his naughty thoughts and gave Harry a smile back. 

"I love you too, in a friendly way," Harry said, mocking Louis' attempt to cover up his true intentions. And Louis felt happy that Harry was feeling happier, even if his happiness was coming from mocking him. 

"Oh shut up!" He said jokingly, pushing Harry lightly by his shoulders. "You know I didn't mean it that way!" Harry let out a little giggle that melted Louis' heart and also made him feel proud for being able to make Harry laugh even in such a tough situation like that one. He also muttered something under his breath that Louis didn't get to hear, but he didn't give it much importance either. 

"Anyways, thank you, Lou. I don't know where I'd be without your help" Louis nodded as a way to thank him for his words and then felt Harry's arms embracing him for the second time in less than four hours. And forgive him, but Harry was a really huggable person. He hugged him back, trying to keep it short and drowning himself in his scent. He liked the hugs, and although slightly uncomfortable, they made him feel secure, as if he where right where he had to be, at least for him. He didn't know how Harry felt about it but since he hugged him he thought he didn't mind that much. 

"I already said there's nothing to be thankful for. I'd do everything for her" they shared a little smile after that hug and Louis felt started to feel really uncomfortable, realizing the reason why his heart was beating so fast all of a sudden. A thought flew through his mind, and it took him a fraction of a second to understand what it was. And god no, that was too far, that had gone way too far. 

And then he finally felt it, climbing through his body, mixing with his blood. A rush of emotion made it's way through his body, filling him from head to toe; the only thing present before his eyes being the image of Harry and his scent flooding through his nose. And looking at him he realised that was it, he was it. 

He had never believed in that thing people say, that omegas always find out who their mate is first, that it was too mystical for the time they were in. But looking at the alpha before him directly into his eyes made him realize he had found him, that he was it. And Harry was just so oblivious to what was happening in his head that it made him think it was something out of his imagination. But it wasn't, he could feel it in his heart, beating and spreading the feeling through his bloodstream. 

"Thank you," Harry said, finally taking Louis out of the trance he was submerged into. 

"You don't have to thank me" He murmured; way too overwhelmed by everything he had just discovered. 

"Thank you" Harry thanked him one last time before just like that, getting into Eve's room. He was completely unaware of Louis' epiphany, completely unaware of what it meant, of everything. 

And Louis just couldnt believe it. He had been standing before his mate for four years before realizing it was him. And it wasn't as if he were looking for his alpha, but now that he had found him he just couldnt bear the thought of losing him, of being away from him. Now his scent had a different meaning even, smelled of home. 

Finally coming out of his trance, not completely but almost, he entered Eve's room a couple of moments after Harry, finding the little omega sound asleep. 

"She's asleep, right?" Harry asked, the former amusement that was in his voice switching to the pure form of worry. 

"Yeah, I think so," Louis said, approaching the bed and taking into his hands her left wrist, taking her pulse. When he found it stable he knew she was just asleep. "Yeah, she's just sleeping" and he was still too astonished to think clearly. If the situation wasn't such he'd take a day off to process it. 

"Thank god" Louis gave him a tiny smile as Harry sat on the black recliner. 

"Try to catch some sleep, tomorrow's gonna be rough," Louis said, smiling softly at him and feeling unbearably uncomfortable. He didn't know how to get his mind to work normally, he just couldn't. 

"I know," Harry said simply as Louis approached the door. "And Lou..." Harry stopped him and Louis turned around. 

"Yes?" 

"Thank you, again" Louis just shook his head with a fond smile on his face, feeling slightly annoyed by all the thanking. 

"Yeah, whatever. I'll come to check on her tomorrow morning. G'night" he said and left the room, leaving Harry alone. That was going to be a really tiring and reflective night, that's for sure.


	6. Chapter IV

Harry woke up to an incoming call, his mobile vibrating and that horrible ringtone filling the room. He had spent one of the worst nights ever, sleeping in a hospital couch and waking up every hour or so. Eve didn't even flinch, neither during the night or with the sound of the phone call, and Harry was thankful for that. She should sleep as much as she could to be able to go through all the things they were going to do to her that day.

"Hi," he said without even bothering to see who was calling.

"Harry hi" it was Paul, the director of the LSO. "Can you talk?" He asked politely. He was a really polite man. 

"Yeah, I can," he said, trying to contain the yawn that was attempting to get out of his mouth.

"I see you just woke up" Harry just nodded. His lack of energy didn't let him realize that Paul wasn't going to see him nod. "Well, I need you to come to today's rehearsal," he said simply.

"I can't" Harry managed to say, fighting against his sleepiness.

"I think you don't get it, I need you to come, I need my main cellist," Paul said, trying to convince Harry.

Ever since no one but Niall and a few other friends knew about Eve, it would be really difficult for Harry to make up an excuse not to go to the rehearsal. He decided he would keep his daughter to himself, and as no one asked he didn't feel the need to talk about it. He knew he should though. They were about to start the new season and they had a lot of concerts coming and he really needed to stay. Eve needed her dialysis and he wouldn't forgive himself if he wasn't there for her.

"Can't you call Crystal?" He asked, rubbing his right eye as Louis entered the room. He looked at the clock hanging on the wall and it was ten past nine, around the time that Louis said he was going to be there to check on Eve. 

"She’s on her way here. I need you both" he said, getting a tiny bit pissed. He was too polite to admit it but he certainly was feeling it.

Louis was looking at him curiously as if he wanted to know what the problem was. Harry just gave him a tiny smile, assuring him and telling him everything was okay.

"I'm in a complicated situation I can’t tell you about, at least not by phone. Can I... can I make it up in a few weeks when my problems get solved?" He asked, being hopeful that Paul understood his situation and gave him a few weeks off.

"Harry, I really need you. I wouldn't be insisting this much if I could replace you. You are the best cellist I have and we are about to start the new season. I can't give you a week off, there is a lot of work to do. Please understand me" Paul said, keeping his insistence so Harry would accept going to the rehearsal.

"Lemme check if I can solve this temporarily and go to rehearsal. I'll text you" Harry finally gave in, accepting going to the studio. He wanted to be with Eve for her first dialysis, but it seemed that he wasn't going to be able. It sucked.

"Oh God thank you! I'll make it up to you when I can. Bye Harry!" Paul said enthusiastically, hanging up the call without letting Harry, on the other side of the line, say goodbye.

"Is everything okay?" Louis asked, finally talking after those few minutes he kept silent, greeting Harry.

"Yeah I just... my boss told me to go to the rehearsal we have today since he needed me and I don't have anyone to leave Eve with," he said simply, resting his head on his hands and his elbows on his thighs, sighing frustrated.

"You could leave her here" Louis suggested, approaching Harry and sitting carefully at the end of the bed.

"Yeah but I don't want her to go through dialysis alone"

"Then I stay with her" he proposed, more like a statement than a question.

"Don't you have to work? Plus, I don't want to ask you for anything else, it's already been too much" Harry said, standing up from the coach he had slept in and looking at Louis as if he wasn't going to change his mind. He would eventually and he was aware of that, he just wanted to discuss and see if Louis would give up sooner, which he knew he wouldn't. Over the years, he had learned that his friend was a tad more stubborn than himself, so it was a list battle. It was more than enough of a proof the arguments they had before to see that Louis was one and a half times more stubborn than him. It was cute though.

"It's nothing. And I don't wanna work today either, I'm tired" he said, keeping down a yawn that was attempting to leave him embarrassed. He didn't like to yawn, sneeze or much less snore, he thought it was disgusting, at least on him. Many people looked cute while doing it, he just, he didn't.

"Then if you don't wanna work go home instead. I don't want you to think I'm using you" he said, not thinking twice on saying what he thought about that situation. Whoever looked at them would think Harry was using him, at least Harry felt that way.

"You're not using me Haz, you just need help and I'm willing to give it to you," Louis said sweetly, standing up from the bed and placing his tiny hand on Harry's bicep, in a supportive gesture. If he also got to feel how thick and hard that bicep was... well, that's another thing.

"I know but I feel bad about it," Harry said, looking at his own boots as if they were the most interesting thing in the world. Louis placed two fingers under his chin and forced Harry to look at him right in the eyes.

And there was that feeling again. That feeling of awkwardness and popcorn popping into his stomach. That heat that spread across him from head to toes that came whenever he was that close to Louis, able to determine every single smell that made up his scent. So sweet, so appealing. It was a mixture of roses with a touch of marshmallows and vanilla, for sure one of his favourite smells. He knew he shouldn't be feeling this way towards him, he was a great friend, but he couldn't help it.

Louis, on the other hand, was just as mesmerized by his newly found mate. Or soon to be. Or potential mate. Truth to be told, that last night had been spent wondering about everything, coming to terms with the fact that they were very much probably meant to be, fated. That reaction, that realization had been so instinctive Louis was almost positive that was it, it was him it had to be him.

Back in time, when Olivia's father left him, he told himself he was never going to fall in love again, no matter how hard it would be, he would never suffer from all the things that "Love" and being in a relationship entailed. Luckily for him, Olivia's father had been just a human, so there was no way a soul bond could have been entitled. And then, a few years later he met Harry, the first being that after being left alone had caught his attention, an alpha. He started feeling things he shouldn't for him, way more serious than the attraction he felt when they first met. He always acknowledged Harry's beauty, it was something impossible to deny, but back then it felt different. He didn't know what he knew now, he wasn't aware of their bond, how they had been made for one another. He hated fate right then. 

And Louis suddenly felt unsure and vulnerable, just for a tiny couple of seconds. What if he told Harry this newly discovered fact and even then he rejected him anyway? Besides he didn't even know if Harry was actually looking for an omega, they had never talked about it.

And yet, besides all the insecurities in Louis'mind and questions in Harry's, that moment got to be so intimate and private, as if their own surroundings suddenly disappeared and left them alone in their own bubble. It felt strange, strange but the kind of strange that actually felt good, safe.

Anyways, Louis just faked confidence and kept the subject of the conversation going, trying to light up the atmosphere by talking and reassuring Harry again on what they were talking about before.

"Look, you're not using me, right? I want to do this so stop feeling guilty about it" Louis said, smiling softly after that and letting his eyes travel to Harry's lips for a thousandth of a second. They were so kissable that Louis thought he was going to die, all perfect, thick, rosy. His scent so engulfing around him, so dizzying.

And when he thought he saw Harry's eyes travel to his own thin lips, their bubble broke. One tiny little giggle made Louis unsure about seeing Harry staring at his lips or not. Eve was awake though, that was a good thing. The thing that wasn't good at all was the fact that the little girl had almost seen them kissing or something like that. Louis honestly couldn't tell what could have happened after if Eve wouldn't have woken up.

"Why are you giggling?" Louis asked her, finally breaking that personal bubble they had and approaching the bed she was lying on. Her tiny fist was on her mouth, trying to keep the laughter for her. He praised himself for being able to leave the awkwardness between him and Harry aside at least for a while. 

"Nothing," she said still in between laugh.

"You sure? I think I caught you spying on us," Louis said with a smile on his face, a genuine one while deciding if he should tickle her tummy or not. He decided on the latter since Eve was really ill and that could hurt her.

"No-uh," she said while shaking her head; still a suggestive look on her face. "What were you two doing?" she asked faking unawareness about what was about to happen between her father and his friend. 

"We? We were doing nothing" Harry said a bit nervous, approaching the bed Eve was on.

"Don't lie to her!" Louis said charmingly, making Harry's face blush deeply, only to confirm that maybe his suspicions on if he was thinking of kissing him were almost certain. "I was talking to your daddy because, since he has to work today, I thought that we should watch some movies this afternoon!" he said excited, seeing how her pale face lighted up at the mention of spending the afternoon with Louis. The bond they had was unaccountable, weird since they weren't relatives, but good since both of them genuinely loved each other. And it was better since it didn't bother Harry.

Harry.

His face also lighted up at Louis announcement, finally confirming that Harry was, in fact, thinking on kissing him. Louis blushed deeply, wishing Harry could just figure it out on his own. 

"Yes!" she immediately forgot about her mocking to them and only focused on the movies she wanted to watch and the things she wanted to do with Louis. "I want to watch Frozen, and... and Hercules!" she said, being over the moon about it.

"But wait, wait!" Louis stopped her rambling. That was the only thing Louis thought Harry and Eve had in common. Thy both rambled either when they were nervous or excited. "We have to do some things before, so you can go home as soon as possible. I guess you don't like to be here" Eve shook her head, being sincere about the hospital. The only thing she liked about them was Louis, nothing else.

"Will it hurt?" she asked concerned. Louis's heart melted in the face of her fear. She couldn't be cuter. Fortunately they would only change the catheter on her hand for the one that is in the machine, so hopefully and if the vein they chose was thick enough, they wouldn't have to prick her again. He shook his head as a response.

"But now I need to talk a bit with your father outside. Do you mind?" he was always so sweet when talking to his patients, that was something a lot of people complimented him on during shifts. She shook her head and Louis grabbed Harry's hand so they could leave the room.

"Wait" Harry stopped him. "Bye love, I'll be back at six and maybe uncle Niall can come and visit you" he kissed her forehead, caressing her arm slightly. He didn't want to leave her and let her do dialysis without him but he had no other option. 

"Yay, uncle Niall!" she shouted, seeming to be way more healthy and well humoured than what she should be.

"I love you, Evie," Harry said, leaving one last kiss on Eve’s forehead.

"I love you too, daddy," she said sweetly, giving Harry the best of her smiles. Louis watched them fondly, smiling wide as he couldn't contain it. They were really cute.

And for the first time since he met them, he felt the need of having them as his family, of waking up to that every single day for the rest of his life.

Finally Louis and he went out of the room, leaving Eve alone for the few minutes they were going to talk until Harry had to leave. 

"Thank you for all the things you're doing for us," Harry said, trying not to bring the topic of the moment they had before Eve woke up.

"I swear to god, if you thank me again I'll rip off that pretty little face of yours," Louis said, and maybe the last thing wasn't meant to leave his thoughts but anyways, what is done, is done. He shouldn't keep worrying about the things that escaped his mouth since he wasn't able to avoid it. It was as if his mouth had its own life and thoughts, totally independent from his brain, especially around Harry.

"I don't know what else to say," he said, blushing slightly in face of the acknowledgement of what Louis had just said. So... he thought he had a pretty face. Interesting.

"Say nothing then," Louis said, trying for it to be kind of funny but failing miserably since Harry was too occupied on processing the situation that had just happened between them inside that room. 

Harry's mobile rang in his pocket, breaking g the conversation they were having right then. He took it, seeing he had a message from Niall.

_«Hazz Im at your place, come down you twat»_

Oh Niall, always so kind.

Harry gulped since he was in the hospital and not in his house. Fortunately, there wasn't too much of a distance between them, maybe five to ten minutes actually.

_«Im at the hospital. Grab my cello and come to the KTM»_

He answered, putting his phone back on his pocket again. He looked at Louis but since neither of them had something to say, they started walking towards the parking lot entrance.

"Would you mind explaining me what's exactly the dialysis?" Harry asked after a few seconds of silence he couldn't handle. He also wanted to know, but mainly he wanted to hear Louis talk so he knew everything was fine and that what happened back in the room was just a hallucination of his.

"Of course," Louis said; his voice seemed fine, maybe Harry was just overreacting, seeing things where there weren't. "We'll attach her to a machine that basically does what her kidneys aren't doing right now" Louis explained simply, brushing his hand accidentally with Harry's. "With that and some medication, her own kidneys are supposed to start functioning again within a week, maybe less"

"Oh..." Harry said, without understanding that much of the information Louis was giving him.

"If you meant the process, well, that machine basically takes her blood out of her body, it detoxifies it, and it gets it back to her bloodstream" the curly-haired wolf didn't like that procedure at all, but well, if it was going to get Eve better, he would let them do it.

As Harry didn't say anything, Louis decided to talk instead.

"I know it doesn't sound pleasant to hear, much less to be done on your daughter, but well, it'll save her and it'll also prevent future and permanent diseases"

"Yeah, I know, I'm aware of that. I just... it's hard" Louis just gave him a tiny and pitiful smile, hesitating about if it was a good idea or not to offer Harry a hug again. Sadly, it took him all the way to the parking lot to think about that, only to decide not to. But when they reached the front door, and as Niall wasn't there yet, they just stood in front of each other, doubting on what they should do.

"She's gonna be okay" Louis tried to assure him.

"I'm just so scared. I-I can’t live without her" he said truthfully, trying to suppress the tears that were forming in his eyes. If it wasn't for how strong and manly his scent was, no one would believe he was an alpha. Louis and known him for four years already and had yet to see him act all angry and instinctual.

"I know, but I promise you, she's going to be fine and she'll wake up tomorrow feeling a thousand times better," Louis said, looking straight into Harry's green and sad eyes. And he suddenly felt that urge to hug him and never let him go, to tell him he was never going to be alone. And he got even more surprised when he felt Harry's arms surrounding him, embracing him into that heat and that comfort his arms had. And for a second, it felt right to feel all the things he was feeling.

"I know you hate when I say thank you but I really can't find any words to say how thankful I am for all the things you're doing for us, not only for Eve, also for me," he said, squeezing Louis' body with his arms.

"You're welcome" and finally Louis left those words come out of his mouth, making Harry feel like he was finally accepting his gratitude. And how good it made him feel. "I don't want to hear you say you're alone anymore. You have me. We are friends, close ones, and I want you to know that you have my help with anything you need, always. I'll always have your back, Hazza," he said, caressing Harry's back slightly but firmly, smiling at his scent. He always thought Harry's smell was too good to be truth, and in fact, it was.

"I don't know what to say... I mean, I'm tired of the 'thank you' thing but... there aren't any words that can describe..." Louis just shushed him, seeing how a tiny tear left Harry's cheek and stained his coat. 

"S'okay Haz, S'okay" Louis broke the hug, but not the contact he had with him. They looked straight into the other's eyes, wondering why all these things were happening to them, why were they the ones involved in this thing called fate. Why were they feeling these things for the other?

"I'm sorry for... everything," said the youngest, cleaning his cheeks with his own thumbs. "For this and... for what happened back in the room, I... I wasn't thinking" he apologized, gaining a tiny smile from Louis.

"There's nothing to be sorry for, I... I think I lost it too, I should sleep better" both of them laughed slightly, feeling the tension slowly disappear.

Then they heard a loud honk coming from a quite old, red, Chevrolet mustang, with a blonde guy –probably dyed blonde– inside, looking for Harry.

"Come on mate, we're running late!" He shouted once he located him; a thick Irish accent filling his voice, followed by the sweet scent of an omega.

Louis looked at Harry one last time before smiling as a way to say 'goodbye'. Harry returned his smile with another one and, cleaning his cheeks with his thumbs again, got in the car, greeting his Irish friend.

"You have a lot of things to explain to me right now," Niall said, trying to figure out how to come out of the parking lot.

"Do I?" Harry asked, resting his head on the seat and looking at Niall through the rearview mirror.

"Yes, you do, like for example, what were ya doin' at the hospital at half-past nine in the morning"

"That's too long to be explained in a car ride to the studio," Harry said, closing his eyes as he suddenly felt sleepy.

"And why were you hugging Louis?" Niall asked again, feeling a smile grow into his face. Ever since Isabella's death, Niall has been trying to get Harry a partner, and since he doesn't actually care about genders, he could easily get him one. Or at least that's what he thought.

"That's too long to be explained too," he said, just wanting to sleep until they got to the studio.

"God, you're fucked up," Niall said, turning around the corner to get into the highway.

"I know," Harry said simply, before letting his sleepiness take him to a dreamless sleep. 


	7. Chapter V

Louis took a deep breath before stepping back into the hospital. He couldn't explain what had just happened, but it wasn't feeling right, that's for sure. He couldn't control how his heart started to beat faster every time someone did as much as just mention Harry or when he saw him. Much less in all the times they had interacted or hugged. It was something that went out of his control, out of his mind, where his instinct was the one in charge of his actions, and God forbid his omega took over him, he was a greedy little bastard, always calling for attention. He was terrified he was going to mess it up because he knew he would eventually, be it because of his omega or another thing. 

He rushed through the aisles in order to get to Eve’s room as soon as possible, so he could avoid the nurses' gossip or even Liam's for that matter. He couldn't let himself get all red and shy at their questioning. He wasn't in the mood to hear those comments either, much less to confront them. Everything was happening too fast in his head, he couldn't think clearly. And it was certainly annoying because he couldn't let himself fall in love with the father of a patient, it was totally out of the ethical codes of a doctor. And besides, he was one of his best friends too, falling for him would be destroying such friendship, to his mind at least. 

But on the other side was this newly discovered fact, pulling him strongly towards him, like magnets. They were fated, written in the stars, however one may want to call it, but they were. That's the point. And he just couldn't shake the feeling that they would suffer if he kept that information to himself. He only prayed that Harry would also find out eventually and confront him, so he wouldn't have to, because, truth to be told, he still was terrified, he didn't want to lose such a nice friendship. 

Shaking his head and trying to forget about the topic, he entered Eve's room, without knocking on the door; he knew Eve would be waiting for him. 

"How's my princess doing?" He asked her. He knew he didn't act like that with other patients, but sue him, that was his little Eve. She inspired him to be even more caring and sweet than what he already was. Maybe it had something to do with all the Harry mess he had in his head, but he wasn't going to think about it, he wasn't in the mood for practically anything. 

"Fine," she said simply, brushing her Barbie's hair as if she were bored of it. "My chest hurts a bit, but I'm okay" that statement didn't worry Louis. He knew all the things she was going to go through because of lupus, and he also knew they were really unfair. No child needed to go through that kind of illness, much less the pain and sacrifice it entailed. 

"That's good," Louis said, approaching her bed and sitting beside her. He took a lock of her chestnut hair and brushed it slightly, as a sign of care. "Are you happy that we're going to spend almost all day together?" He asked her, making her leave the Barbie aside and hug him. And he felt totally comfortable with that hug, feeling her warm and tiny body with his, her scent -which was most likely just Harry's but sweeter- making him feel really comfortable. He loved her as if she were his niece because saying 'as if she were his daughter' would be too much. 

"Yes!" She exclaimed, burying her face in Louis' tummy. He caressed her back, smiling at the feeling of having her hugging him. The bond they felt was huge, no one could tell the opposite, undeniable, unquestionable, irrefutable. "Can we watch Frozen?" She asked enthusiastically, looking up at his blue orbs with puppy eyes. Louis checked his watch, trying to contain a fond smirk. She was really cute. 

He saw it was half-past nine and the first session of dialysis started at half-past eleven. Maybe they could watch the movie, but they would probably have to leave it on pause and finish it when they get back from the dialysis. 

"We can, yes. But quarter past eleven you have to be ready to start the treatment, right?" She nodded with a smile and Louis gave her another one back. 

So he searched for Frozen on his Netflix account on his mobile phone and he connected it to the flat screen that was in the room. 

They lay on the same bed, Eve leaving some space for Louis lo lay beside her and they started to watch the movie in silence. Well, Eve watched the movie. Louis was staring at her since he noticed some similarities she had with someone he couldn't tell. She had the same expressions and the same eye shape and look, but he couldn't remember who he knew that had those features. He knew it wasn't Harry since she and Harry had practically no similarities. The only thing they seemed to share was the hair colour, but it wasn't the same. Hers was a little bit lighter, tending to a caramel, while his was more of a chocolate tone. Beautiful and long chocolate locks. 

Louis tried to stop his thoughts so hard that he wasn't paying any attention either to Eve or the movie. His head and his values were running like water down a river inside his head, only to be replaced by the ghost of the feeling he had all the times he hugged Harry, all the times he touched his skin, how soft it was. Oh lord, he was lost. 

He only got to feel like himself again when he felt Eve’s head resting on his tummy and his arm being pulled behind her back. 

"Are you cold?" Louis asked her and she shook her head, still paying attention to the movie, right on the part Anna and Kristoff find Olaf and he starts to sing. 

"Lou" she looked up at him as if she were asking to do something. "Can I ask a question?" She asked finally, getting herself comfortable on Louis' soft hug. 

"Of course you can," Louis said, looking down at her. 

"You and... You and my daddy Harry... what are you?" She asked. And Louis felt the blush rise to his cheeks violently, through his neck and up to his ears even. She was little, yes, only four years old, but yet so intelligent that it scared the shit out of him. She could notice that, at least for his unconscious –and not so unconscious– mind, Harry meant more than a friend. And that wasn't good at all. 

He knew that Harry didn't see him the way he saw him, so he couldn't let Eve think that he was in love with him or something. He wasn't even near to be in love with him, of course not, but he wasn't being able to control his feelings and his inside teenager was speaking instead of his adult him. Besides, his omega could only scream at him, being like a little devil on his shoulder persuading him to tell Harry, to tell him they're written in fate, bound to be mates. That wasn't helpful either. 

"Why are you asking?" He decided to ask, so he could think of a better option. He just couldn't go with the truth, that they were meant to be, but weren't even close to consuming it. Actually, he wasn't even sure they would ever. 

"'Cause you seem to be really close and..." she started to laugh lightly. "I almost catch you kissing" and Louis thought he was dead then. Yeah, he wanted to kiss him so badly but he didn't think Eve got to see all that part. 

"When?" He tried to play it cool and act as he didn't remember, so she would think he wasn't about to do that. "I don't remember being about to kiss your father," he said, brushing her hair slightly as they were talking. The film was suddenly forgotten. 

"Yes! You were about to kiss him when I woke up!" She exclaimed. And Louis though he was lost. How could she be that young and that intelligent? It exceeded his understanding. 

"I wasn't about to kiss him!" Louis defended himself, playing his charming side. Because if he left his true feelings flow, he would be begging her not to tell Harry anything of that. 

"But you want to!" And Louis ran out of arguments to defend himself. That kid was outrageously intelligent. 

"God Eve, no! Why would you think so?" He kept trying to make Eve think he didn't want to kiss Harry, but god, that girl was stubborn. He was afraid he could lose this 'fight' because if he did, she would tell Harry in the blink of an eye and he would be ashamed to even look at him.

"Because I saw how you look at him," she said that a little bit calmer. And he thought that the looks he gave to the curly-haired wolf weren't that obvious. "And he looks at you the same" and well, that shocked him. I wasn't possible in any of his hypothetical universes that Harry would look at him the same way he did. They were just friends. But again, his omega was betraying him, telling him they were bound to be together. 

"He doesn't," he said simply, too shocked to be able to say something else. That couldn't be truth. He had seen Harry's looks and they weren't that kind of looks, he would be more affected by his scent even. If Harry saw mating potential in him he would have done something about it already. He was a soft alpha, yes, but when it came to an omega they couldn't keep to themselves, even the kindest of alphas would succumb before it. Harry didn't like him that way, he just knew. 

"And why does he talk about you?" And now Louis was shocked. Harry talked about him? That's new. Then again, is the word of a child, you can't trust it sometimes, even if Eve didn't seem to be that kind of child that lies. "He always talks about you with uncle Niall. Louis did this... Louis did that... Lou hugged me" she said, imitating her father's deep voice, making Louis laugh. And yeah, maybe that part wasn’t that big of a truth. Harry didn’t actually talk about Louis with Niall, maybe he did, but probably not liek Eve was picturing it to be. 

But in Louis’ mind, and without the knowledge of what really happened on those phone calls, that couldn't be possible. That was too weird to be truth. Harry always seemed to be fine with Louis' presence, he never blushed like Louis did, he never said anything about Louis like that, God, he had never been bothered or drunk in his scent as he had been on his, multiple times. That wasn't true, those feelings were definitely one-sided. 

"Oh come on! Why would he talk about me?" He said, laughing and looking at her with a grin. That situation was getting surreal. 

"Because he likes you, duh," she said as if it were something obvious. And for her, it was. She thought that because one time he heard his father say he thought Louis’ eyes were pretty, then, he was in love. There’s where the reasoning of the four-year-old failed. Louis didn't believe her, of course, and that frustrated her. 

"Evie, he doesn't like me," Louis said calmer, looking at her straight into her blue eyes, smiling softly as a way to see if he could convince her. 

"He does! And you like him too!" And Louis wanted to do a facepalm since that situation was getting ridiculous. Now he was sure it all came out of Eve’s imagination, that was too weird and too fantastic to be truth. 

"And if what you're saying were true? What can I do? I don't like him that way" he blushed a little bit at the huge lie he was telling. He truly couldn't contain his feelings, and it was pathetic. 

"You do, don't lie to yourself" and she hit nail in the head. He swore that girl was too intelligent and too sensible for the age she was. And she was so right, that was what he was doing. Lying to himself. He was suppressing all the feelings that were growing towards Harry, and that felt wrong. He shouldn't be doing this to himself in order to not get harmed, or rejected. But getting harmed is part of loving, and if deep down he wanted to mate Harry -eventually-, he knew he had to start somewhere. 

He decided he wouldn't keep arguing about it, not because he wanted to do so, if not because he knew he was going to lose the argument. She had really good points, but he still didn't think that Harry talked about him on the phone with Niall, that was too weird. 

They lay there until the movie was getting to its final part, in silence, just thinking about all the things that they had said to each other. Mainly Louis. 

He was lost in thought, just recapitulating all the things they had said and how all of them were the truth, even if he didn't want to admit them out loud. Ethically talking, he shouldn't be liking Harry, it wasn't something a professional of his level should do. But talking in all honesty, he couldn't help it. His heart skipped a beat every time he heard Harry's voice or every time he saw him. It was something that exceeded his control, he couldn't avoid it, he couldn't help it. And suddenly he felt the pressure of those feelings falling onto his shoulders, suffocating him. 

"I'm fucked up" he whispered to himself, thanking later the fact that Eve hadn't heard him. 

"Lou, I'm sorry," she said then, looking up at him again. He looked into her eyes and gave her a tiny smile, telling her some way that everything was fine. "I know I shouldn't tell you that, it wasn't kind," she said, apologising, letting all the things that Harry taught her to be shown up. 

"It's okay love," he told her, hugging her tightly. "It's okay" She buried her face on the crook of Louis' neck and they stayed like that, feeling their bond surrounding them, wrapping them in a warm and cosy hug. 

"I'd love it if you were my new mummy, though," she said, and that froze Louis completely, only to leave him with a warm flutter in his chest afterwards. She loved him as much as he loved him, and nothing ever felt better. 

"You'd like me to?" He asked a little bit surprised, but the good kind of surprised. He smiled at her, emotionally moved, touched by what he had just heard. 

"Yep," she said while getting back to the position she had before, resting her head on Louis' tummy and watching the film. "You really kind and I've known you forever," she said, counting with her fingers all the things she loved about Louis and would make him a really good candidate to be her future new mum. 

"Thank you, love," he said with the shadow of a smile attempting to get out of his lips. He couldn't contain the happiness that girl was giving him, it was unexplainable. 

They spent the rest of the morning and the afternoon like that, just resting and watching films as they talked about life, leaving the topic 'Louis to be Eve’s new mummy' aside. Eventually, they had to go to the dialysis wing of the hospital, and little Eve had to go through that and, why lie? She was terrified. But Louis held her hand during the whole three hours the procedure took, and after he assured her it wasn't going to hurt, she let the nurses change the line. They took a nap after that since the dialysis had left Eve totally exhausted. Well, Eve took the nap. Louis just watched her, awake, thinking about all the things he had realised in that single morning. 

By six and as he said, Harry was back, bringing with him his blonde friend, a rrally pretty and cheerful omega, and a teddy bear.

"I think I'm leaving," Louis said, getting up from the bed only to have his hand held by Eve, stopping him. 

"Don't go," She asked, making the typical puppy face all the kids do when they want something. 

"Honey, I have to leave. Have to get my house decent” Louis explained, excusing himself so he could leave. 

"Honey, tell me, what did you and Lou do while I was gone?" Harry asked her, distracting her a bit so Louis could leave without another pout from the girl. 

She stared at them as the shade of a smile crept to her face. The idea she had was brilliant. And with her most angelic and innocent voice ever, she talked. 

"I told Lou that you talk about him with uncle Niall" the three adults there opened their eyes wide. Harry choked on his own saliva while Louis stumbled on his own feet. That was a pretty funny situation since Harry started to cough and Louis had to hold onto the door so he could avoid falling. 

"Eve, you did what?" Harry asked; his face blushing violently. Niall was suppressing a laugh that was attempting really hard to come off of his lips. 

"I think I'm leaving," Louis said, turning around to see an embarrassed Harry that was looking at him as if he were apologising. And he certainly was. 

"I also told him I want him as my new mum," Eve said. And well, everyone thought Harry's face couldn't get redder, but it did. Also Louis' but on a smaller level. 

"Eve!" Harry shouted as Louis left the room. Both of their hearts were beating at a high speed, feeling really ashamed and embarrassed. 

"Holy shit" Louis started to whisper as he tried to calm himself down, walking back and forth in front of Eve’s door. "What's just happened?" He whispered again, still walking like crazy. Inside the room, the situation wasn't that different. 

"Erase that smirk out of your face!" Harry told his daughter, who was smirking from the bed she was lying in. "You're in trouble little girl," he said, really disappointed on what Eve had done. He understood that she was just a child but there were things she couldn't be telling the world, much less the people involved in it. "And you, blonde leprechaun, keep an eye on her, I'm going to apologise" and well, maybe Niall and Eve were more of partners in crime than what they seemed to be. 

"That's my girl!" Niall congratulated her, doing a high-five that she did delighted. 

"Don't praise her!" Harry shouted just as he was about to leave the room, only to find a really nervous Louis at the other side of the door. "Oh god I'm so sorry" Harry apologised, looking at how Louis' beautiful blue eyes looked right into his, giving him a tiny smile. 

"Chill, S'okay" Louis' said, stopping his walking and taking a deep breath before talking. It wasn't okay, that had touched too close to home. 

"God I feel so embarrassed," Harry said, letting his hands go over his face as if he were trying to get the blushing thing down. "What else has she told you?" He asked, fearing of what the answer might be. 

"Nothing just... things on that same... topic" Louis felt embarrassed too, it was a really annoying feeling. 

"Like...?" He kept asking, wanting to know how deep his own daughter had sunken him. 

"Just... we had an argument 'cause she said we... well, she said that we liked each other and I tried to tell her that we're just friends, y' know, but... let's say she didn't get it" he laughed uncomfortable after that explanation. 

"God, I'm truly sorry. I'm not leaving her with you ever again" Harry apologised again, getting a hand over his long chocolate curls, fixing them a little bit. 

"I have no problem with it if that's the reason," Louis said. Except for that argument he had loved staying almost the whole day with Eve, it had been a really good experience that he wanted to live again. "Just... let's do as if this had never happened. What she said isn't true so we... we don't have to worry" he said that looking straight into Harry's eyes. And maybe he was that infatuated with him that he thought he saw their shine disappear at the last statement. 

"Yeah, I... I don't know where she took that from" Louis just nodded, giving him a tiny and reassuring smile. 

"It's forgotten," Louis said, smiling at him again, looking straight into his eyes. 

Eyes can't lie, they say.


	8. Chapter VI

"Why did you say that to him?" Harry asked, getting back into the room and looking at his daughter with disappointment filling his face up. He was really disappointed, really ashamed. He didn't want to accept that his daughter, with those few words, had fucked up his barrier against his mistake of a feeling. Feeling that way towards someone shouldn't be in Harry's life schedule. Not Louis, nor anyone. He had already fallen in love and got his heart broken once, he wasn't up to feel that pain again. 

"Because it's true," she said simply, shrinking her shoulders and with a grin painting her face. Her plan was going well, she wouldn't be that stupid to ruin it when she had already told the truth to Louis. That was a huge step. She thought her father was all grumpy and sad because he hadn't found his true love and she actually thought that her plan was a good idea. But if we see deeply into it, it was a four-year-old girl that was planning, it was all decorated with princesses, fairies and happy endings, she hadn't a backup, either a way to avoid her father's speech if he discovered her, and he did. 

"You know it's not," Harry told her, approaching the bed she was laying on, finding himself being stared at with sceptical looks from his daughter and best friend. That feeling of observation was really annoying, mainly because he knew that some part of that weird, allegedly made up, story had a side of truth. 

And the truth is that, at first, he didn't find Louis attractive, at all, well, as attractive as you can find any unknown, unmated omega when you first meet them. Maybe he was only focused on raising Eve and other things going on in his life that he couldn't give himself the time to even check out other people. And that would be a total plus for Louis because when they met he wasn't in the best moment of his life, neither mentally or physically. It all started a while ago, when he discovered that under Louis' doctor gown there was a pretty big and toned ass, and to be honest, those white trousers, gripping tight at his hips weren't helping. That was the first time in two years –since Isabella's death– that he had checked out someone. And he felt really bad afterwards as if he had disrespected him somehow. But that wasn't the most important thing. What we can take from this was what started to happen next. Harry found himself staying longer in the clinic than usual, listening to Louis and his stories, finding that his scent was slowly making him weak, giving him some sort of pleasure by only just smelling it. And normally they would just be chatting about Eve, but oftentimes they would change the topic of the conversation and end up talking about childhood experiences and other things. That had been what had made them so close, because after that they had started to hang out at their places every once in a while, which allowed him to really meet this omega that was crawling his way into his mind and heart, slowly captivating him. And all those things they discussed, and memories they exchanged was what made Harry find Louis interesting, because of all the things he had to tell and all the things he had to live at such a short age. That and his physical appearance of course. Louis was pretty well gifted. 

"And why do you look him like that?!" She said, smirking as she found her father taken aback, speechless almost. And he was. Firstly, he thought Eve didn't hear those rarely frequent conversations with Niall and second, how in hell was she that intelligent? She never saw him either with a girl or boy, neither a human or an omega; he hadn't been in a relationship since he lost Isabella for a matter of respect and maybe because he didn't want to forget her. But come on, Eve didn't even know what love was, and there was she, trying to get her father and Louis together. 

"What? How do I look at him?" Harry asked confused. 

It was true that he was starting to feel different towards Louis, and he knew that 'different' meant that he was starting to like him, yet he was so afraid. He always had his attention caught when he was with the blue-eyed one, but stepping from that to liking? Way too much. He couldn't let himself like someone, much less Louis, he was sure they weren't meant to be. He didn't want to have his heart broken again. 

"Come on mate, you have heart eyes every time you see him, you talk about him almost always, even when you don’t notice" Niall spoke, making Harry turn his head towards him. It was unbelievable; his best friend and the one that should be helping him to keep his daughter shut about the topic was the one helping her. Well, in reality, it wasn't that unbelievable. Eve and Niall had always had a relationship more of partners on crime than uncle and niece. Harry didn't have a problem with that unless they were in situations like this when he really needed to get Eve out of the middle of his personal matters. 

"Don't play against me!" Harry shouted, trying to find the funny side of the situation but sadly, not finding it. 

"It's true," Eve said, shrugging and looking at Niall, expecting him to support her point of view. And he did with a smile and a slight supporting gesture. 

"It's not!" Harry said again, getting frustrated as he couldn't convince his friend and daughter. He was telling a lie he wasn't completely aware of, yet he wasn't going to let it turn into a truth. "You know what? Keep speculating, I'm leaving" the curly-haired wolf said, approaching the door in a useless try to leave. He didn't want to leave and he wasn't going to. He had really missed his daughter. He only wanted to make Eve apologise so he could "stay" and forget about the topic. 

"Daddy don't leave!" Eve shouted, painting her little face with a pout she knew her father wouldn't resist. "I didn't see you all day, I want you stay," She asked him, playing well her cards. She knew how to make Harry do everything she wanted, it was quite easy. 

"Will you stop talking about this?" Eve nodded, unsure of if she was going to keep her promise or not. She might be a child, but she could see the tension between them, and she could understand that this kind of tension was because of a mutual liking. She had seen it in rom-coms and many other movies. "Well, then I'm staying" she exclaimed some sort of a 'yey' as Harry sat back down on the couch. 

"I'm leaving then Evie, I need to get back home to Abby," Niall said, standing up from the bed he was sitting on and leaving a kiss on the little girl's forehead. Abigail was a little dog he had picked up from the streets a couple of years prior. She was really sweet and Eve just loved her to death, the relationship they had was beautiful, so in love with each other. It was something magical to see. "Would you let me have a few words with your daddy?" He asked, seeing how the girl was rubbing her eyes because of her tiredness. She nodded while yawning. The dialysis had left her completely exhausted. Now that Harry remembered, he hadn't asked Louis how the procedure went. He would ask him the following morning since the situation between them wasn't the best at that moment. 

"What d'you have to tell me?" Harry asked once Niall and him were out of the room, standing in front of the door. 

"Two things. Number one, if you need to have a shower or get back home for something, I can stay with Eve, ask for it if ya need it" Harry thanked him with a tired smile. He was really thankful Niall was offering him that. He needed to get back home to get Eve more clothes and get himself decent since the last time he had showered was more than two days before. "Number two, you know that what Eve said is true" and then he took back his smile and replaced it with a roll of his eyes. He knew he was fucked up, he didn't need Niall, neither his daughter to remember him. 

"And what about that?" He asked, trying to play as if he weren't interested. It didn't go well since Niall had known him since they can remember and he knew when Harry was acting differently. 

"What about that?" Niall asked surprised. "It's the first time you like someone since Isabella, that's the thing. Give yourself some credit" he said, putting a smile on his face. He always knew Harry wasn't too picky when it came to genders. Harry told him while they were on their early teens that he didn't care about gender, that if he found love he found it, and that would be it. Sadly, some bits here and there of society don't approve of non alpha-omega bonds or marriages for that matter, but luckily it was changing, at a slow pace, but surely. That didn't bother either of them so it was barely spoken about. 

"I don't like him" he tried to cover himself up, failing miserably. It was true that he didn't like Louis, but it was a matter of fact that he was starting to feel different towards him and that if he didn't stop those feelings, it would end up being a crush. Or worse even. 

"You don't?" Niall asked sceptical, putting a smile on his face. "Let me tell you it's pretty obvious that you look at him as if he were a masterpiece," the blond-haired man told with an amused expression and thick Irish accent. "Which we know he is, of course, he is gorgeous" and at that, justified by a sudden feeling of threat, Harry left a low growl to come out of his throat, deep and threatening. 

"Woah, calm down mate. See, now you understand what I mean?" Harry wanted to say something, to deny the truth Niall was telling, but it was getting really difficult as the conversation went further. Besides, that growl had basically confirmed the existence of some sort of possessive feeling towards Louis, one he wasn't completely aware of just yet. "You know you can tell me these things, I won't judge you," Niall told him, giving him an assuring smile and caressing Harry's arm. He knew that what Harry was going through wasn't something easy to bear. His daughter was really ill and now he was falling for one of his closest friends? 

He sighed, finally accepting in front of the blond-haired wolf that what he was saying was true. He let his hand go through his long and curly chocolate-like hair, frustrated. 

"I don't want this," he said finally, looking up only to meet his gaze with Niall's, being the latter a pitiful one. He knew how his heart got shattered when Isabella and his son died, and that maybe that was the main reason why he didn't want to let himself like someone again, much less fall in love. He was afraid to lose them. 

"I know you don't," Niall said sympathetically, attempting to hug his best friend but desisting once he saw that Harry needed to unburden his feelings first. "But you'll never know what'll happen if you don't let it be" Harry looked up at him, revealing a complete sceptical expression. 

"Yes, I do know. I'll lose him like I've lost all the people I got to love" he said sadly, looking at his own feet again as if they were the most interesting thing in the world. 

"I feel offended," Niall said, trying to be funny but failing miserably. 

"Don't be, it's something good depending on how you see it" the curly-haired wolf left a little smile paint his face, only for it to fade away a few seconds later. 

"You can't be afraid of love, it just happens and you can't live your life repressing it" Niall tried to counsel him but he couldn't do it. Harry was a stubborn one, he wouldn't let anyone's advice change his thoughts on what is correct and what isn't even if he knew that what he was doing was wrong. 

"I'm not afraid of love, I'm scared of its consequences," he said, shutting Niall up. The blond-haired wolf had suddenly run out of arguments to try to convince him that what he was feeling wasn't wrong. And as some kind of ending to the conversation, he just hugged his friend. 

"Just want you to know that whatever you're feeling inside that twisted little heart of yours is right. You don't have to live your life confined to your daughter and work, that's also not healthy by the way. I love you and I'll support you in whatever choice you make" Harry returned the hug tightly, thanking with that gesture all the love and support his best friend was giving him. He was left alone in the world, the only one he had was Niall, him and of course his little girl. Louis came around later, and he guessed he could count on his workmates, but it wasn't the same. He couldn't just get mad at them. 

"Thanks, Ni," Harry said, burying his face into the crook of Niall's neck. 

"You're welcome. If I supported you in your... decision, of adopting Eve, why wouldn't I support you with this?" At first, in that night when Harry called Niall and told him everything from when he lost Isabella and Theo to when he found Eve, Niall thought it was a pretty bad idea to keep her and raise her as if she were Harry's. He thought Harry should have taken her to the police station so they could take care of her and send her to the adoption system. But honestly, they both knew how that system was, they both grew up there. No one that could avoid leaving a child under the State's care would do it. So Harry finally kept her, and the future just went on. “Look, I don’t want to scare you or anything, but Louis’ coming,” Niall said, looking at how Louis silhouette was appearing from afar, seeming to reach them. 

“Shit, what do I do?” Harry asked, getting really nervous. 

“Just… just apologise and I think you’ll be fine” Niall advised him, patting him on the shoulder as they both saw how Louis was approaching them. 

“Hope you’re right” Harry muttered underneath his breath, drying the sweat of his palms with the fabric of his jeans. 

“Hi, again Harry, Niall,” Louis said politely, with an uncomfortable smile, as he approached them. 

“Haz, I’m leaving,” Niall said, quickly hugging Harry and walking down the aisle to the main door of the hospital so he could leave. 

“So… what happened? Have you forgotten something?” Harry asked, scratching the back of his neck as he always did when he was uncomfortable or wasn’t sure of what to say, practically almost always. 

“Yeah, I was going to…” Louis went to say, but Harry couldn’t contain his apology any more. 

“I’m really really sorry,” he said quickly, feeling his own cheeks get redder and hotter as the time went by, out of embarrassment. 

“It’s okay mate, just…” and then he had to interrupt Louis again because, as weird as it sounds, the words were coming out of his mouth quickly and without control. He was hoping he wouldn’t mess it up even more. 

“No no, it’s not okay. I can’t pretend everything is fine when my daughter just asked you to be her mum, I’m just so so sorry, so embarrassed. It won’t happen again” Harry was shaking his head and looking at the floor, unable to look at Louis’ eyes.

“It’s okay, there’s no need to. I actually… felt honoured” and Harry ended up looking at him straight into his eyes in confusion, unable to believe what he was hearing. Louis actually wanted to be Eve’s new mum, wow, that was weird and terrifying somehow. “Don’t get me wrong I… it just felt good to know that Eve, as a patient had that big of a bond with me that she would ask me to be her mother. It’s okay though, is not like it’ll happen anyways” Louis put a smile on his face and looked straight into Harry’s eyes, taking the importance away from what had happened. In fact, Eve had been really specific when she told Louis about that, and Louis knew it was something that had to do more with Harry than with her, but he would just let it be so Harry wouldn’t be that nervous. 

“You sure it’s okay?” Harry asked again, hoping he wouldn’t mind actually. “God, I feel so embarrassed” Louis laughed a bit at that as he adjusted his gown tighter. 

“It’s not the first time that things like this happen to me, I’m used to them so, don’t worry” Harry gave a tiny shameful smile to Louis as he gave him back a bright one, with crinkles under his eyes and everything. 

“Well so… moving on… how did Eve do with the dialysis and all that?” Harry asked, hoping the topic ‘Louis to be Eve’s new dad’ to be forgotten. 

“Yeah, well… Eve did well with it. She slept a lot afterwards, too” Harry just nodded, trying to focus mainly on what Louis was telling him instead of him as a whole. “We started to give her some medication to help her kidneys work properly and I hope that within a week, maybe ten days she will be out of here” Harry put a tiny smile on his lips, and for Louis, it was a sign that meant that maybe not everything was tense between them. Too much had already happened between them that day that put in danger their friendship. 

“That’s good news I guess” Harry finally said, smiling softly. 

“Yes, it is. We’ll do two more sessions of dialysis for now, and a few more if needed but so far everything has been working and if it keeps going as it is, you’ll have Eve home really soon” Harry nodded, trying to do his best and put a smile on his lips. He was genuinely happy that Eve would be home soon, but the tension between them was impossible to ignore. 

“Thank you for all of this and… I’m really sorry, again, for all the things you had to hear today” 

“No problem mate, these things just happen” the shade of a smile was starting to cover Louis’ face up. Maybe, after all, the whole situation was nothing but a misunderstanding that will cause some blushes and laugh in the long term future. At least, that was what Louis was expecting it to be. 

“I’ll… I’ll go back to Eve’s room” Harry says, scratching the back of his neck as a sign of his awkwardness. 

“Okay, g’ night then, see you tomorrow” Louis, out of nowhere and without thinking about it that much, planted a sweet and short kiss on Harry’s right cheek. But he started to walk away the second he realised what he’d done and oh boy, the bright red blush covering his face was a pretty good indicator. Maybe they were being too instinctive and that was what was sort of ruining their friendship, neither of them could avoid it though. 

“Goodnight Lou” Harry gets to say, but when he manages to get the words out of his mouth, Louis is just a little spot at the end of the hallway. 


	9. Chapter VII

After that incident, Eve had been in the hospital for about week or so, nine days if being exact. She did well with the dialysis and her body could handle the medication given, and was actually starting to work at its full potential again. She was really awake, well rested, and wanted to run, play and jump all around. 

Her recovery treatment allowed her to go out of her house but only for very specific reasons. That’s why the first three days both of them stayed at home, they did practically nothing, letting the house fall apart. Harry didn’t do anything cleaning related during those three days, and when he actually had to do it he almost cried. Eventually, he got all his house clean and Eve ready. He needed to go to a really important meeting and performance with the LSO and since he couldn’t leave Eve with anyone, he would take her with him. 

God thank Louis though. A few days prior he had called to check on Eve like he did practically every day and, when Harry told him he had to take her to work, he offered to watch over her until he came back. The problem was that Louis wouldn't be done with his shift until evening, seven PM exactly, and Harry had to be at the auditorium at half past six. So, he offered Harry to pick her up at the auditorium and take her to his home until he could go pick her up. Harry would probably have to be there until late at night, so it was leaving her with Louis, or with him, running and playing and touching everything she shouldn’t touch. So he chose the first option, letting Louis pick her up. 

“You’re ready?” Harry was clearly nervous. He had to do a really important presentation in front of really important people and his daughter was going to be there, for the first time. God, he was really nervous. 

“I am”

“You’ve got everything you need, do you? There’s no coming back to get whatever you forget” Harry was well dressed in a black suit and had his curls pushed back with some gel, tied in a really low ponytail almost at the back of his neck. It was a really uncommon and weird look, but it suited him anyways. 

“I do” she said calmly

“Your pills?” Harry asked again. 

“In my bag. Gosh dad, chill” she said, pulling back a strand of straight brunette hair out of her face. 

“You sure you’re gonna be okay, right?” Harry was unsure of the whole ‘staying at Louis’s' thing, but he had no other option since Niall would have to be there with him as well. 

“Dad, Imma be with Lou, it’s like being with you times two” Harry left out a little and nervous giggle at the comparison. 

“Sure you’re gonna be okay. Come on, let’s go” they both left the house, not before making sure they weren’t forgetting anything and they got in the car, Eve in her car seat of course. And Harry drove quietly but quickly to the auditorium the LSO was playing in. They were strangely silent, and that was a good thing since having Eve talking and babbling about everything would have been counterpeoductive considering how nervous he was.

“Come on love” Harry said as he helped his daughter out of the car. He took her little hand into his and they started walking through the parking lot towards the building; cello hanging on his right shoulder. 

They took the lift once they got into the building, meeting with two guys that played the French horn. They weren’t Harry’s friends, but it wasn’t as if Harry hated them either. They were just mates. 

“Hi Harry, you nervous about tonight?” One of them asked, the dark haired one, named Jake. He glanced down right after asking, setting his eyes on Eve and making her feel uncomfortable. She got closer to her dad’s side as she held his hand tightly. She wasn’t shy once she got to know the person, but before that, she was the shyest little girl ever. 

“Hey, who’s that?” The other one asked, Marcus, looking straight into Eve’s eyes and then switching to Harry’s. 

“Hi guys, she’s Eve, my daughter” he said simply, as both of the guys shared a confused look. 

“You have a daughter?” Harry nodded at Jake's question, trying to get Eve to separate a little from his side so they could meet. 

“Wow, I would’ve never expected it” Marcus said, looking at Eve more carefully, giving her an assuring smile. She smiled back, shyly, as she started to separate from Harry’s side slowly. 

“Me either. Hi Eve, you’re really beautiful” Eve blushed slightly as she murmured a polite “Thanks” to Jake. 

“You look nothing like your dad” Marcus said after, glancing over them and trying to find some matching features. They were used to everyone telling them the same old thing, but only Harry and Niall knew why. 

“I know” she said shyly, playing with her dress. 

“And what do you like to do, ah?” Jake asked, being clearly more open to the idea of Harry being a parent. It was such a surprise to them. They had always seen Harry as a reserved man, but they never expected him to have a daughter of his own behind it. It was a really nice surprise. 

Eve started to talk with Jake about Barbies and painting and singing while Marcus and Harry just shared some strange looks. It was as if Marcus wanted to ask something. 

“Just ask” Harry said, watching at how Eve and Jake seemed to get on very well. 

“When…?” He couldn’t get the question out of his mouth. 

“Well, she’s four years old so, I guess I’ve been a dad ever since” they both laughed awkwardly at that. 

“And her mother?” Thank god Marcus had almost whispered that question because if Eve would have heard it, he would be in serious trouble. He was thankful that Eve hadn't asked him about her mother yet, he wouldn't know what to tell her. 

Harry just shook his head, and Marcus immediately left the topic aside as the lift got to the top floor. And because of his worried face, Harry offered him a reassuring smile, making sure everything was fine between them. 

Eve left the elevator while she was still talking to Jake and Harry and Marcus went behind them. Jake was leading them to the room all the orchestra was reunited in, so they could do that presentation and impress the brand new and strict head of the LSO. Everyone would play at least once, and it was actually an open event, where guests invited by the players could sit and watch. Harry would play twice particularly. He would play once with the whole orchestra and he would play again in a quartet made of three violinists and him, to represent the strings of the LSO. They would play Vivaldi's autumn as the quartet and Tchaikovsky’s swan lake with the orchestra. 

They ran into Paul in the hall, a middle aged, alpha wolf who was the current director of the orchestra and a really good friend to all those who worked there. He was a really friendly and kind guy. His brunette hair and sweet chocolate eyes would always inspire you to tell him practically everything, despite of his gender. Surely, he could be terrifying if he wanted. He was maybe, the most truthful human being Harry ever got to know, except for Niall obviously. 

“Hi guys!” Paul greeted them, seemingly excited, until his glance met Eve. He seemed pretty confused; players weren’t allowed to bring guests to the backstage, and after seeing that Eve was Harry’s responsibility, he shifted his confused look towards him. “Is this your sister? Haz, you know we can’t bring people backstage” 

“Go ahead guys, gotta talk to Paul for a sec” they both nodded at the same time and then left, going towards the big gates separating the hall from the auditorium itself. 

“So… care to explain?” Paul said with a grin, looking at Eve with a reassuring smile. She was again plastered against Harry’s side, holding onto his hand as if her life depended on it. Eventually she gave a tiny smile back; after all Paul liked kids and knew how to treat them, he was a father himself of two little boys. 

“Well, Paul, this is Eve, my daughter” and Paul’s smiley face changed to a confused one in a matter of seconds. Harry has told them he was single and living alone, so that was confusing. 

“You have a daughter?” Paul asked confused, searching for similarities between Harry and the kid and, unsurprisingly for them, not finding any. 

“Yes, I do have a daughter” he said proudly, looking down at how his girl was trying to be as close as she could be to him. He gave her a smile and tried to get her to separate so she could meet Paul and let him explain properly the reasons why he couldn’t go to the rehearsals all the time he had to call in. 

“Well, hi Eve, I’m Paul, your daddy’s boss” he said directly towards her, giving her another smile as he tried to get closer. She separated from her father –not completely– and gave him a smile, handing him her free hand to do a handshake.

“I’m Eve” she said when he took her hand into his to do the expected handshake. 

“You’re really beautiful sweetheart” Eve blushed as she smiled, playing with the ends of her dress. 

“Thank you” 

“Very polite as well. You dad must have taught you very well then” Paul said, bending down slightly so he could talk to her more comfortably. 

“He did yes” she said again, looking up at her father, who was already staring at her with a proud smile. 

“There’s nothing else to expect coming from him. He is kindness and politeness in person” she laughed slightly at that comment and nodded, giving him the reason. 

“Well, this isn’t about me, okey?” Harry interrupted them, pulling Eve towards his side a little. It was an amazing unconscious movement that wasn't perceived by Paul. “Well Paul, you know I’ve been calling in a lot lately, and that has a reason” Paul nodded at that, expecting a reason. “Honey, can you go sit on that sofa right there while I talk to Paul?” She nodded rapidly and left, leaving Harry and Paul alone. “I know I haven’t told you or anyone about her. My fault, I just wanted to be reserved and it went out of my hands, I’m sorry about that by the way”

“It’s okay, we all may want to have a part of our lives private, it’s fair” Harry sighed softly, relieved that paul wasn’t mad at him for keeping his daughter in the dark. 

“And well, two weeks ago she was diagnosed with kidney failure” he was taking slowly, watching how Paul would cover his own mouth in disbelief as he went further.

“Poor little girl” he said. 

“She is in recovery now, way better. But her doctor told me that her kidney failure happened because of a chronic condition. It’s called Lupus.” Paul gave him a tiny comforting smile, accompanied by a friendly pat on his shoulder. 

“You know you can count on me for anything you might need” he offered, patting his shoulder again. 

“I know and thank you” Harry said sincerely. “Now she should be resting, but I had to come here and had no one to leave her with” Paul nodded in understanding, looking towards the sofa where she was sit in, playing with her straight brunette hair. 

“There'll be no problem with her staying backstage” 

“Thank you. Either way, I’ve got a friend that’s picking her up at half past seven. His name is Louis Tomlinson. If you could talk to someone so they could let him in when he arrives and pick her up it’d be awesome” 

“Sure, I can do that” Paul said and Harry left a sigh of relief leave his mouth and lungs. The exclusivity was so tough that he was afraid they wouldn’t let Louis come in if he hadn’t an invitation. “Now, go there and get ready, rehearsal if you can. I’m sure they’ll all love Eve in there” Harry gave him the last smile as he walked towards Eve. He touched her shoulder and guided her straight into the auditorium, both looking at it with wide eyes. It was huge. 

Harry didn’t waste a second in looking at his surroundings. He had that annoying feeling of running late, although he wasn’t, but maybe those were the nerves were taking over him. So he took Eve by her hand and guided her all the way to the stairs that went to the stage and, from then, to backstage itself. Once they both got there, rhey faced a full on mess. Musicians, concertists, directors, instruments were all over the place as they both walked down to Cellist’s dressing room. Both of them noticed though, how the murmuring and talking slowed down when they saw Harry with Eve. No one asked anything, though.

When they finally made it to the dressing room, there were three girls and another boy that, with him, completed the part of the orchestra that played cello, Harry, being the head of all five. 

“Hi Haz, wondered why you weren’t her…” one of the women, Danielle, went to say, but then she saw Eve and her topic changed completely. “Who’s she darling?” Danielle was a lovely elderly woman, a sweet omega, who was like a mother to all the orchestra but mainly to them. It was all like a big family. 

“Hey Dani, how are you, everything okay? Oh well, let me introduce you. She’s Eve, my daughter. Evie darling they are Danielle, Jessica, Crystal and August over there” he said jokingly as he pointed towards each person he named. “They’re daddy's workmates” he whispered the last thing but everyone could hear him anyways. 

Danielle was looking at him pleasantly surprised, and she gave Eve one of her widest smiles. Eve gave her one back as she muttered a shy “Hi” to the four pair of eyes that were looking at her. 

“You’re a box full of surprises, aren’t ya?” Crystal said as she approached Harry so she could give him a kiss on the cheek. It was kind of weird but that was how she said hi to people. She was Latina woman, a beta, and it was pretty common to do so there. They all got used to it eventually. 

She bent down so she could give Eve a kiss on her cheek as well, and Harry thought she would decline her, but she didn’t. She even gave her a kiss back. 

“Ow, you're so sweet” she smiled innocently as she let her father’s hand go and smiled at her. 

“Thank you” She said after that, blushing slightly. She loved being called ‘sweet’ and ‘cute’ and all those things. It made her feel special. 

“Tell me love, you like how your daddy plays the cello?” Crystal asked her, trying to start a conversation and warm up with her. 

“Yeah, but I like it better when he plays the violin” all the adults there opened their mouths wide in fake horror. There was a practically non-existent, really fake battle between cellists and violinists, where they would say they hated each other but they didn’t actually. 

“Honey, don’t say that again around here” Danielle said, laughing slightly. 

“And, do you play any instruments?” Eve shook her head as she walked towards her. Crystal was a young woman, twenty-eight years old exactly, and she had a really charming personality. All kids loved her. Crystal and Eve eventually walked to one of the five boudoir that was there, and the child looked amazed at how Crystal did her makeup

“No, but I’d like to play the piano” she said, as they both started to talk quietly. 

“Really?” Eve nodded again, but Harry stopped paying attention to that when he noticed that Danielle, Jessica and August were looking at him, expacting an explanation. 

“So… you have a daughter, right?” Jessica said. She was the youngest of them all, another beta girl, and maybe she had a tiny crush on Harry but it never went further from that. She had tried before and got to the realisation that Harry didn’t want to start dating her, even if he wasn’t dating anyone at that moment. 

“I do?” He said unsure. 

“How long have you known this Haz? You can’t just appear here with a kid” August said calmly. He was a close friend to Harry, not as close as Niall or Louis were but near. He was a sweet omega and Harry felt really protective of him. 

“Is she living with you darling? When did you find out about her?” Danielle asked.

“Actually I…” harry was about to explain the situation but they wouldn’t let him finish. 

“Did you have trouble with her mother or something?” August asked again. 

“Is okay love, we understand you” Danielle said as she patted his shoulder.

“Can I explain myself?” Harry could finally ask, and his three friends backed out a little to give him space to talk. 

“Sorry” he heard from Jessica. 

“Well so… She’s my daughter yes, and I actually raised her all along these last four years. You know, I like to be reserved but it went out of my hands” he laughed awkwardly at that. 

“And her mother?” Jessica asked, pretty interested. 

“No mother, it’s… complicated” the three of them nodded at that, accepting the fact that Harry may not want to talk about that. “And well, she’s been really ill these past weeks and I had to come here and no one could watch over her so I took her with me. Is it… is that fine by you guys?” 

“Of course darling. She is a sweet girl” Harry smiled at Danielle’s compliement, watching behind her shoulder at how Crystal would falsely put some blush on her cheeks with a brush. He wasn’t freaking out because he could see that the brush wasn’t leaving her cheeks rosier or anything. 

“Thank you, actually. I know it’s a really important day and I shouldn’t have come up with this today but I had no choice” he explained. 

“S’okey Haz, count on me for anything you might need” August offered with a polite smile on his pale face. 

“Yeah, me too” Jessica said then. 

“Well, now that the matter is solved out, let’s rehearsal so we can get this performance as perfect as possible” Danielle said and, when Crystal joined them, they all started to rehearsal their part of the piece under the pretty uninterested look of Eve. 

And eventually, time went by and with it, Louis’ arrival to the auditorium. And it was a rather problematic arrival. 

At first, and even with the GPS on and working, he wasn’t being able to get to the directions. The traffic was awful and the streets were all practically tangled if that’s possible by any means. It just wasn’t being his night, neither in or out of work. 

When he finally made it to the auditorium –after several minutes spent on searching for a parking place– the guard wouldn’t let him in and let’s face it, his outfit was really casual and he didn’t have an invitation to the event. He didn’t know it wasn't an open to the public event and neither did he know it was formal. He surely wasn't expecting such exclusivity. Luckily for him Paul was downstairs, dressed in a very formal black tuxedo and, when he saw what time it was and the situation between Louis and the guard, he approached them and fixed it, guiding him to Harry's changing room afterwards. 

After a couple of minutes of wandering around, they got to the main hallway in there, where every door was a dressing room for each part of the orchestra. Paul left Louis in front of the door that said “Cello” and left, claiming that he still had things to do before the performance. Louis thanked him with a bright smile and knocked on the door, not waiting for anyone to answer. Instead, he just pushed the latch and got in the dressing room. 

“Harry, Eve? Are you in here?” He asked, looking at how five people stopped playing cello, looking at him weirdly. He thought he saw Harry blush slightly as he left his instrument aside and stood up to talk to him. Now he was sure it was the correct dressing room. 

“Oh, now I get it” he heard how a brunette middle aged woman whispered to a younger one. And he supposed Harry did too, because his slight blush got even deeper with that statement. He didn’t understand what they were talking about, but Harry definitely did, and he saw how his countenance went tense and embarrassed. 

“It kinda makes sense” he heard again, but he couldn’t hear anymore because the next thing he knew was that he was outside of the dressing room and the door was closed behind them. He felt a pair of big hands wrapping him around the waist as he saw his own lying on a pretty well worked chest, leaning against it to not fall. 

And he could feel how his omega was on cloud nine, being held so close and strongly by the alpha he knew was his mate, or was fated to be at least. He couldn't avoid that part of that joy filled him up, making him feel accomplished. 

“Oops” said Harry as he almost made them fall. And, right as he noticed the location of his hands, and Louis noticed his, they separated immediately, feeling slightly awkward. 

“Hi!” Louis said happily trying to forget the weird flutter in his chest, looking straight at the ring of green surrounding Harry’s pupils, which were pretty dilated as they stared at each other right in the eyes. He could tell Harry felt awkward to say the least. 

“I’m so sorry, I almost tackled you” Harry said, scratching the back of his neck on nervousness again. 

“You wouldn’t have been able to” Louis said surely, closing his arms in front of his chest, trying to look intimidating but failing miserably. 

“You sure?” Harry asked, painting a slightly ironic smile on his face as he slowly warmed up with him. He felt too embarrassed to joke around. 

“Mhm” Louis mumbled, trying to actually look serious. “Anyways, I’m here so, bring Eve and let me leave before we get that Paul bloke in trouble and that guard Jeff kills me” Louis said jokingly, as he fixed his fringe nonchalantly. Harry couldn’t believe they were practically hugging just a few seconds ago, Louis was acting so normally, so... him. 

“What problem did you have with Jeff?” He asked, shaking his head slightly, as an attempt to move on from the topic. 

“He wouldn’t let me in. Thankfully Paul was there and he brought me here” Louis explained, suddenly noticing Harry’s outfit. And forgive him for thinking he was really hot, he just wasn’t being able to control his thoughts at the moment.

Louis’ check out started from the very bottom. He was wearing leather shoes, very formal. Then there were his trousers, tight enough, climbing the length of his beautiful legs, hanging perfectly on his hips. The tuxedo was other thing though. It fitted him so perfectly that Louis thought that maybe it was custom made especially for him, completing the suit. And then when he got to his face and head, he almost left a pretty loud laugh out of his mouth. He was perfect, except for his hair. He swore he hadn’t seen a more awkward hairstyle ever. 

“Hey! What’s the matter?” Harry asked.

“Your outfit was perfect, I swear. Until I saw your hair” and then he actually left that laugh escape his mouth, not even trying to control it. 

Yes, the hair tie was really low, almost at the back of his neck and that was weird, but Harry didn’t think it looked that bad when he did it.

“I feel offended” Harry claimed, looking down at his feet while Louis kept laughing. 

“Don’t be, I can fix it” Harry raised his head and an eyebrow when he heard that. “Can you play with loose hair or does it have to be tied?” Louis asked, inspecting Harry’s curls. 

“It’s on the player actually” he answered, kind of confused. 

“Can I…?” He asked again, unsure of Harry’s reaction. But when he saw Harry nod, he took a deep breath and stood behind him. 

He grabbed his hair delicately, as if it were one of the most precious things in the world, and pulled the hair tie out the same way. He heard Harry’s breath stop as he did so. Louis could feel how Harry’s muscles were tense, expectant of his next movement, while his hands just moved as if they knew where to touch and how to fix it. Harry’s curls were a bit marked by the hair tie, so he just shook them a bit, getting them messy but still pretty, hearing how Harry would finally release the air caught in his lungs. Harry’s hair gel had lasted and his long locks were pretty coated in it, so even if the hair was loose, the finish of it was still professional. He walked around him again and stood in front of him, looking at his hair and trying to find something to fix, but mainly trying not to look at his face. The spot where his dimples appeared, the green of his eyes, the tiny mole on the left side of his face, just under his mouth and his puffy lips were distracting, and were a huge part of those little things that made his heart beat faster whenever he saw the youngest. That and his scent, that seemed to be particularly accentuated that day, managing to make him dizzy. And finally, looking straight into his eyes and not being able to avoid the temptation, he pulled out a single strand of hair out of his face, feeling palpitations out of nervousness. Maybe it had been too much. 

“Thank you” Harry muttered, slightly shy, as he looked away; blush creeping up his cheeks. 

“You’re welcome” Louis said then, doing the exact same thing. “This is awkward” he said under his breath, trying to relax. “Well, where’s Eve?” He asked again, wanting to forget about what had just happened and get to the main topic. He saw Harry shake his head, as if he were doing the same and then he answered. 

“She’s in there” Harry said, pointing at the door of the dressing room. “I’ll bring her here” he said then, opening the door after taking a deep breath. 

Once he was in the room, with the door ajar behind him, he felt four pair of eyes looking at him half suspiciously and half jokingly. And let’s say, what had happened a few seconds ago and the persistent feeling of Louis’ hands on his hair weren’t helping. 

“He’s her mother, isn’t he?” August said, looking straight into Harry’s eyes. “He’s so gorgeous” he added afterwards. 

It was too much to take in. Louis being all cute and touchy and so… Louis with him, and now his workmates thinking Louis is Eve’s mother as well. It was really overwhelming. He couldn’t process it. 

“Wait a second” he said, as he approached Eve, who was playing with Crystal’s makeup since hearing classical music was apparently too boring for a four year old. “Sweetie, Lou’s here” he whispered, catching her attention and making a huge smile appear on her face. She stood up and grabbed her bag quickly, approaching Harry excitedly. She really loved Louis. “You have everything, don’t you?” Eve nodded, adding a tiny ‘mhmp’ to it and securely grabbing her bag, walking towards the door. “Say goodbye, love” Harry said, putting a hand on her back and leading her to the door. 

“Bye, it was nice meeting you all” she said, smiling slightly as they all smiled at her and waved their hands. 

“Bye sweetheart, it was so nice to meet you too” Danielle said, waving again before Eve left. 

“I’ll pick her up at ten, I’ll try to be earlier if I can” he said to Louis, leaving the door ajar so neither his friends or him could see the other. 

“No problem, she can stay the night if you have it difficult to pick her up” Louis offered, hugging her by her side and smiling down at her. 

“Don’t think it’ll be necessary. I’ll call you if anything” Louis accepted with a nod. 

“Well Jess, now you know why Haz didn’t want anything to do with you” they heard from behind the door. Crystal’s voice was kind of characteristic and pretty loud, so she could embarrass Harry even from the distance. He blushed violently, letting his embarrassment be highly noticeable. 

“Bye love, see you later” he gave her a kiss on her forehead and closed the door as quickly as he could, letting a huge sigh out of his mouth. “God I’m going to kill you” Louis heard him say just before starting to walk away from there. 


	10. Chapter VIII

"Are you tired, love?" Louis asked after seeing Eve yawn for the third time, in the car ride back to his place.

She hadn't been putting her body under stress since she was discharged from the hospital, and having to walk that much and just being out of her house really could cause her to be more tired than expected. That was his hypothesis at least. 

She shook her head, but Louis could see how her light blue eyes would become more narrow as time went by. Eve felt way too tired to just hold a conversation at some point, so they just left the silence fill the car. It helped Louis think, remember some of the good old times he used to live when he was barely twenty-something. And even if not all the memories were happy and good, they managed to put a smile on his face either way. 

He had had that phase, in his early twenties, of living with the minimal, just the essentials. Some people called it the hippie phase, but Louis didn't feel identified with it at all. He wanted to let go so much that he and the one he thought was the love of his life planned to leave, live their lives at their maximum, feeling as free as they could. Of course, when he told his parents that he would leave their mansion and go live on a van and embrace his selflessness, they refused right away. They told him he wouldn't be able to finish his career but Louis, as smart as he is, was able to do it without physically assisting. He went every time he had to take an exam and he would study in the van they shared. It was way more difficult than actually going to class, but he noticed that he preferred studying that way. 

He lived with Olivia's father for a long while, four years exactly. He didn't see his siblings often, neither did he see his parents, maybe once or twice while those four years lasted. His lover inspired him to live that way, free of preoccupations, free of his own family even. Being the only adult son of the Tomlinson family was certainly something hard to live with. He had to follow every single order from his father. He didn't even want to study for a doctor, but as time went by, and by the little time he actually went to the university, he learned to like it and now loves it. His whole life had been like that, being forced into something he didn't like and end up liking it. That or learning how to live with it. 

Being an omega, in that case, was even worse. The years he lived with his parents, he could only submit before his father's will, do as he pleased. But when he moved to the van with his lover, that came to a stop and he just couldn't feel freer. He even got to the point of feeling like he didn't actually have a wolf gender anymore, that he was just human. Those were four years of no shifting, almost disconnecting completely from his omega wolf. His instincts had vanished so much that he almost had no scent, and had his heat sporadically once a year, with the help of some suppressants. 

Maybe the fact that his partner was just a human was something that influenced this change, to the date he'll never know, but before everything went down the hill he thought those had been the best years of his life. 

They actually lived in a van. They would travel from town to town and he would help people on the road. They would sing songs late at night, having the moon and the stars shining upon them and often, having the warm rays of sunlight from dawn upon them as well because they stayed up too late. They were sickeningly in love. But then him, who Louis thought was the love of his life, disappeared. He didn't leave him on his own though; the pup that was growing inside of him would be the last and the best thing he got from his forbidden lover. Later he found out he was caught by the police selling drugs to a rather important group of dudes and that was it for him. 

He shakes his head and lets those rather painfully beautiful memories leave his mind as he pulls the car inside the gates of the building he lives in. 

Once they reached his building, he noticed that Eve was slightly better. Or at least she looked better. Recovering from the treatment she received in the hospital and getting used to living with an illness that basically fights your own body at such a young age must be really tiring. The poor little thing still had a long way to go, though. 

"Lou, why is your house so high up in the sky?" Eve asked once Louis and her got out of the elevator, being that the main entrance to the house.

"Because I live in a penthouse, love. They have to be high up in the sky. They are the last floor of some buildings" He explained, hanging his black coat on the hanger just beside the elevator's door.

"Cool" Eve said then, giving her own coat to Louis so he could hang it as well. 

"You think so?"

He lived in a rather comfortable penthouse, sort of luxurious of course, but he didn't like to add that in the description. He preferred to be as humble as possible, he didn't like to constantly admire and tell how rich he was. 

It actually had a deeper background that resided on being slightly guilty because he had the amount of money he had. He never lacked anything, he had always been given what he needed and even more, but even having the possibility, he would try not to depend on his and his family's money, at all if possible. 

He earned his job and his position the right way. Yes, maybe he worked for his father –who was the complete opposite from him– but he was completely capable and suitable for it, and just as he had that job and that position, so could anybody else with the same qualifications. He had always been faithful, but thinking about the unfairness of money distribution and how many people were dying because of hunger and other diseases made him feel even more guilty. So he would donate almost half of his annual salary to various charities, mainly for medical support or Doctors Without Borderlines. And that number wasn't small. 

When he was younger, he encouraged those values for every day, nowadays he just tries to be as humble as he can for the reality he lives in. 

His house, on the other side, was a gift. Saying that he lives in a penthouse in a private neighbourhood and talking about humbleness at the same time would be really hypocritical. If he would have been given the opportunity to buy his own house, he wouldn't have chosen something that extravagant and luxurious. His father gave him that penthouse when he turned twenty-one but he moved in after he turned twenty-five and the love of his life left him alone and pregnant. 

He had a really big living room right in the entrance of the house, painted in white and decorated with warm and different shades of brown. There was a four-seat sofa in a light brown shade and two loveseats beside it, all facing a glass coffee table with dark wooden legs. In front of them, there was a huge plasma, hanging from the wall and under it, a beautiful marble fireplace. On top of the dark wooden floor and under all that was a big and fluffy cream coloured rug, that made you want to go barefoot in there. Behind that, almost touching the wall, there was a black grand piano with its cage open, so you could see the strings inside, a gift from his mother for when he turned eighteen. That was the first thing that caught Eve's attention. The walls were decorated with apparently meaningless and minimalistic prints, framed in beautiful golden frames. Too extra for Louis' lifestyle but he wouldn't complain, it was a gift after all, and everything inside of it was as well. 

The kitchen was separated from the living room by a black granite bar and besides it an arcade with no door. It was smaller than the living room, all decorated in grey, silver and black with an island in the middle. This one had a panelled kitchen and the sink by its side, covered as well in black granite and with its under part in light grey. It had as well a black granite counter that occupied almost all its perimeter except for the part where the fridge and the washing machine were. It was a really big and fancy kitchen for someone that could barely do pancakes. 

"Come on, sweetheart, leave your bag on the sofa. My house is your house" Louis said, pushing Eve in carefully.

He actually really liked having Eve at his place. They had a very deep bond and their relationship had always been beautiful. She had always been close to him and because of that, Harry learned to get closer too, and eventually started to know Louis better. Louis actually owed his and Harry's friendship to that little four year old inspecting his house now. 

But although now their relationship was really stable, it took them some time. Louis didn't know that much, because Harry wasn't too fond of the subject, but around the time they met Harry had been through really difficult times, as well as he did. Maybe that was the reason it took them so long to really warm up to each other and get that kind of trust you only get from a friend. 

"Love, are you in the mood for pancakes?" Louis asked sweetly, placing his keys on a tiny porcelain plate on the bar. 

"Of course," she told him, looking at her surroundings with curiosity and overall smelling the place. It smelled strongly of Louis, and that made her extremely comfortable. It was the first time she set foot in Louis' house since they always hung out at public places, and she had a lot of questions and a lot of things to look at. 

"Feel free of doing whatever you want sweetheart. The remote for the telly is on the couch" he told her before stepping into the kitchen and starting to look for the pancake mix and the other ingredients required. He was humming to some random pop song tune while moving his hips slightly, completely unaware of that as he mixed the ingredients. 

Eve, on her side, was looking at all the photos Louis had on top of the fireplace. There were a lot of photographs of different people, his siblings, as well as his parents and Liam. But her attention was caught completely when she saw a white closed box with something written in golden. It was rather low, so Eve could easily grab it and read what was written on it. It said "Olivia" on a very pretty cursive letter, adorned with the thin silhouette of birds flying as well. She walked towards the sofa with the box on her hands, curiosity taking over her as she opened it, leaving the lid aside. Inside of it was a bunch of papers, the screenshots of some ultrasounds, a positive pregnancy test and some pink and white hand-knitted baby shoes. The only thing Eve actually understood what it was was were the little shoes. Apart from that, everything was new and she wanted to know what they were. She took out a pile of ultrasound scans, all put in order and attached at the side with a pink cord. The first one was just two grey dots inside of a black oval, both inside of a grey triangle shape, that was what she understood at least. It was the first ultrasound he took, of when he was barely eight weeks pregnant. The next two ones were the same two dots in different angles, but the fourth one looked like an alien baby, in black and white as well. That one was from when he was twelve weeks pregnant. The following ones showed an even bigger baby, and there were some cream coloured ones that showed a baby's face. Eve smiled, finally understanding that what she was seeing were pictures of a baby growing inside a womb. She left those aside and grabbed a white stick with a pink cap, that had a square in the middle of it with two thick dark pink lines. That stick caught her attention because it didn't look like something she had seen before, and curiosity was killing her. She didn't even think of the possibility of how Louis would feel if he found her looking through his stuff. She just saw the white box, felt curious and looked into it. She was just four years old, she didn't know how hard it could be to Louis if she asked something about it. 

She did anyway. 

She walked towards the kitchen with the pregnancy test on her hands and, looking at it with confusion, she asked.

"Lou?" She said shyly, walking towards Louis, who was putting the pancake mix in the pan, using circle metal moulds because he didn't trust his ability to make rounded pancakes. 

"What, sweetie?" He asked, totally focused on pouring a generous amount of mix in the pan. 

"What is this?" Once Louis took a look at her, she handed him the pregnancy test and his smiley countenance changed drastically. 

"Where did you find this?" He asked, erasing the smile from his face and looking down at the two dark pink lines saying that once upon a time he was pregnant. 

"I was looking through the pictures on top of the fireplace and saw the white box, and I opened it" she explained herself as if what she had done wasn't a big deal. But when she saw Louis' face sadden, she immediately started to feel worried she might have done something she wasn't supposed to. "Does it make you sad? Sorry, Lou, I didn't mean to," she was going to keep rambling, just like Harry does sometimes and Louis smiled sympathetically at her. 

"It's okay love, I'm not sad. I just... It's been a long time since the last time I opened that box" he smiled again, trying to erase the worried look off of Eve's face, and he was quite successful since she put again her curious look. "This? This is a pregnancy test, it's something adults take when they want to know if they have a baby in their tummies or not" he said as he turned off the stove, handing Eve her plate of pancakes with chopped fruit and maple syrup. She took it carefully and waited for Louis to grab his and they both walked to the living and towards the sofa, sitting in it and trying not to sit on top of the contents of the box, all spread over the couch. 

"And what does it say?" Eve asked again, very concentrated in not letting her plate fall. 

"It says yes" he explained, setting his plate on his lap and smiling as honestly as he could. 

"You're having a baby, Lou?" She asked with a huge smile painting her face, feeling excited about the idea of a baby she could meet and help take care of. Louis wasn't her father but she was positive he would let her help him with his baby if she asked to. 

"No, I'm not, love. This is from several years ago" he explained, putting the pregnancy test back in the box and grabbing the handmade book of ultrasound scans, smiling down at it with melancholy. 

"But you don't have kids" She stated, taking a piece of her pancakes with a fork and putting it into her mouth. Louis's heart was hurting slightly. All the memories he had of his pregnancy were attempting to come back to his mind abruptly. He had been able to move on and keep living his life as it was, yes, but sometimes, remembering that he was a mother once made his heartache. And he wasn't blaming Eve for that, of course not, she was just four years old and in a place, she had never been in. She just saw something she didn't know about and asked. 

"I don't, but a very long time ago I did" he tried to explain himself as sweetly as possible since he was about to explain a stillbirth to a four-year-old. 

"And where is your baby?" She asked, of course without thinking of the damage those questions could be doing to her friend. 

"She... Honey, she was born sleeping" he explained, not being able to hold his smile anymore. Honestly, he couldn't even remember if she was alive when she was born, almost everything that had happened that night was just a blurry memory. 

"Why?" She asked again, eating another piece of her pancakes and looking at Louis, seeming very interested. 

"She had a problem in her heart and when she was born, she went to heaven" he wasn't crying, but he had left his smiles aside, because remembering his baby girl and telling someone her story hurt, and he had to be true to himself and Eve. At least for his girl's sake. The memories he had of that night were blurry, he didn't even try to remember more of it, but what he does remember is the feeling of one of her hand on his, and the bark hair that covered her head. "She was born on the same day as you," he told her, putting a little smile on his lips and seeing how she would put on a bigger one. 

"Really?" She asked. 

"Yup," he told her, eating another bite of pancakes and letting the smiles come back so he wouldn't worry Eve again. 

"That's funny," she commented while chewing, thinking it was really weird how Louis' baby and she happened to be born the same day. "You'd like to have another baby?"

"Of course I would, but there are two problems. The first one is that I'm not mated, and I wouldn't like to be a mum on my own again and also, when Olivia was born, I... hurt my belly, so it's very difficult for the puppies to stay inside and not come early," that was a truth he wasn't proud of. He tried not to think about that, to live his life as if that fact wasn't just sitting there, but it was. Two weeks after he gave birth he had a pretty severe infection that left him, as he used to call himself, useless. When he's down he blames himself, but he knows that it's not his fault and that he can always keep trying. He was positive that if he tried hard enough he would be able to get pregnant, the problem was when the pups had to latch to his womb. He would like to adopt eventually, because 'why bring more babies into the world when there are a lot of kids without parents' but still, having somehow lost his ability to carry a pregnancy is something that he hasn't forgiven himself completely for. 

They ate the pancakes while chatting about pregnancy. It was a topic he wasn't really fond of but Eve kept asking questions and he saw himself forced to answer them. She asked about the ultrasounds and how those two dots turned into a baby and Louis even showed her some photos of his belly as the pregnancy developed. It was heartbreaking for him to see his own face of excitement when he took those pictures, how his hands were wrapped around his distended stomach perfectly, but he kept his smile on face all the time, so he wouldn't worry Eve. 

After a few minutes of silence, Eve looked at the piano with curiosity, suddenly remembering that she really wanted to learn how to play it. 

"You play?" Eve brought Louis back from his thoughts. She was standing right beside the piano, sliding her thin fingers on the keys but without pressing them. He thought he remembered her mentioning how much she wanted to play the piano but her father couldn't teach her because he didn't know how. 

"I do" He confirmed, approaching her and putting his hands on top of her skinny shoulders. "I can teach you something if you want" he offered. "I'm not that good but I'm rather decent" she looked up at him, pressing a key and giggling at it. She was extremely cute. Fortunately for Louis' heart, the topic of pregnancy was finally left aside, and he couldn't be more thankful. 

"Really?" She asked then, looking upwards to see Louis' face. Her grin could fully illuminate the darkest room. She glowed whenever she smiled. 

"Of course I can" Louis assured her, "Actually, I'm glad you're interested, otherwise you'd get bored in here waiting for your father to pick you up" he added, making the both of them laugh. Truth to be told, even if he was a paediatrician, he didn't actually know how to entertain children apart from movies and some board games. He would be a disaster as a father. 

Eve kept quiet, watching how Louis slid his own fingers through the surface of the keys, smiling with nostalgia at the memory of him and his mother, in that same position, teaching Louis how to play the piano for the very first time. He was seven, and even though he wasn't a huge fan of it, he learned how to love it and how to express his feelings through it. And that was what made that piano and his ability to play it so wonderful. 

He started to play some random melody under the curious gaze of Eve. It was a slow tune, but he was playing slowlier as if playing it the right way would hurt. It didn't actually, it was just that he was remembering too many things all at once. That was the first melody his mother taught him. 

Eve was trying to put her fingers in the right keys, just as Louis was, but it was getting certainly difficult. She watched then, looking closely and carefully at the exact same keys Louis pressed and, once she could figure out which were, she started to play them with him. They were a few octaves up and the tempo wasn't actually accurate, but she smiled as she realized that what she was playing sounded something like what Louis was playing just that it was a tiny bit higher.   
  
They stopped playing after a while; they got tired of the same melody over and over again. 

"Lou, which key is D?" Eve asked, sliding her fingers through the keys, looking at the whole piano in awe. 

"This one" Louis played said key and ubicated it between C and E. She just nodded and started playing some random keys, forming something like a melody Louis was pleasantly surprised, Eve could rather easily determine the scale of D, and, after a few tentative attempts, she started to play a very simple version of Pachelbel's Canon in D major. Louis looked at her in full-on admiration. 

"How did you know how to play that?" He asked, completely astonished. 

"Dad had to play it once for work, so I heard it a lot but in cello. I just googled the piano version. Was it good?" She asked, a tiny bit self-conscious of what she had just done. 

"Of course it sounded good, love. Amazing for a girl that has never been taught piano" he complimented her and saw her cheeks go rosy. 

"Thank you," She said with her blush still high up in her cheekbones. She had pretty prominent cheekbones, she was in fact really beautiful. 

They played the piano for almost an hour. Which gladly surprised Louis because Eve got tired really easily. The fact that she almost fell asleep on the car ride and all the walking she had to do were the reasons why eventually she started yawning and fell asleep with her head against Louis's arm. She had also told him while they were playing that hearing piano melodies made her feel sleepy and relaxed, so that could be another reason why she fell asleep. He decided to wait until she was fully asleep to pick her up bridal style and carry her to his room so she could rest properly. Eve was really light, so the effort Louis had to do was minimum. Once he put her on his bed and tucked her in with his white blankets, he took out a straight dark chestnut lock out of her face and, leaving a kiss on her forehead, left the room so she could sleep peacefully. 

He did some cleaning, put in order all the things they used, including the contents of the box he used to remember Olivia. He even teared up a little bit at the sight of the twenty-four-week ultrasound scan picture. He could see his baby girl's side profile and he remembered how he thought she got her nose from her father. He remembered how she would calm down whenever he played the piano, mainly in the evenings and how she would kick him in late at night and make him sleep awfully. He did the dishes after that, trying to get his mind to a state of stability and order again, trying to put his mind blank somehow. 

The bell was heard an hour and a half later. Harry was downstairs, waiting for Louis to open the door so he could get in. He explained to him he had to press the floor number fifteen and once the elevator brought him, he would open the doors from the inside. Harry did as told and once he reached the last floor of the building, he was greeted by Louis with a huge smile. 

"Hi" He mentioned, looking at how gorgeous his hair was. In fact, all of Harry was a masterpiece worthy of being admired. He breathed in deep, being once again mesmerized by such scent. 

"Hi," He said back, looking at him straight into the blue of his eyes. They had just greeted each other and Louis was already cursing fate and all its relatives. It wasn't fair that he was so close to him, and yet so far. "Has she been much of a trouble?" Harry asked, stepping in further with his cello hanging on his back. "Where is she?" He asked again. 

"She fell asleep about an hour and a half ago," Louis said with a tiny smile, remembering how he felt her drop by his side and rest her head on his right arm. "She's a sweetheart, she was just as lovely as always," Louis said. Apart from the incident with the box, she behaved pretty well. 

"Last time she was a sweetheart she tried to get us together so I might as well not trust that statement" Louis left out a little giggle, covering his mouth immediately after. Harry couldn't help but watch him fondly. Maybe she had a good basis on why trying to get them together was a good idea but neither of them would admit it any time soon. Maybe Louis, to himself only, since his instincts had told him but that was about it. 

"She asked me to teach her how to play the piano..." Louis said, reaching his grand piano and sliding his fingers through the black shiny surface of it unconsciously. "She's actually really good at it, you should take her to classes" Louis complimented on Eve's abilities with sincerity. 

"Really?" Harry left his cello resting on the side of the couch, feeling relieved of finally taking it out of his back. 

"Yes, she played Pachelbel's Canon in D major alone. She said she heard you play it and then googled it and came here and just did it. It was impressive" Louis was genuinely astonished by Eve's ability to play the piano. "We also talked about my pregnancy and ate pancakes" he added then. He wasn't meaning to tell Harry that his daughter had gone through Louis' personal stuff and asked him a ton of questions about a topic that hurt him very deep down in his heart but his brain to mouth filter didn't seem to be working at that moment. It happened mostly when Harry was around him. 

"Wait, she asked you about your pregnancy? That pregnancy?" He could see the apology written all over Harry's face. The number of times Harry had apologized to him that month was uncountable. 

"Yes. I didn't mean to tell you that but it just slipped out of my mouth" Louis confessed. "She found a box I use to keep some memories of it and she asked me what the pregnancy test was and just, she kept asking questions about it" Louis decided to be sincere. He had told him already that they had talked about it so, he would have to tell Harry about it now. There was no use in refusing because he knew Harry would insist until he told him. 

"Have you told her about the breastfeeding thing?" He asked genuinely concerned. Back in time, when Eve was just a few days old and they agreed on having Louis breastfeed her just for that instance, they decided that they wouldn't tell her about it. Not because it was wrong but because it would maybe disgust her. 

"Of course not, we agreed we wouldn't" 

"God, I'm so sorry you had to talk about that with her." They sat on the couch simultaneously, keeping their conversation going on constantly. "Was it too rough?" Harry asked genuinely concerned. 

"Not gonna lie, it was, a bit," Louis said sincerely.

"I'm so so sorry. I can't count the number of times I apologized to you since... well, everything" Louis laughed awkwardly at that, placing his hands on his lap and looking straight into the green of Harry's eyes. 

"It's okay. It was good remembering some of it" he said, not being completely honest but not lying as well. It was good for him to remember once in a while. Maybe opening up about it wasn't his definition of remembering and it certainly wasn't part of his comfort zone, but he did anyway and although he felt odd, he also felt sort of relieved. 

After Harry apologized and thanked Louis for what it felt like an eternity, he went to Louis bedroom to pick Eve up, trying not to breathe in too much where his scent was the strongest. He meant to wake Eve up but, as she didn't, he decided he would carry her asleep. She had done a lot that day and was exhausted. So, once he got his cello hung on his back –with Louis' help– and his child sleeping in his arms, curled up on his chest, he left Louis' house, leaving the aforementioned with a handful of thoughts he would need to share with his pillow.


	11. Chapter IX

_**April 28th, 2016** _

Louis was used to feeling bittersweet on April 28th. It was a feeling that sat there throughout the whole week, and it felt the strongest on the day before and the day in fact, ever since day one. On one side, It was Eve’s birthday, and whenever he called to wish her a happy day, he would hear how excited and happy she was. On the other one, it made another year since he lost his little girl. 

The first year had been the worst, nevertheless. The pain he felt not only on the 28th but in all the instances he had to remember was destroying. No one knew what to do with him because it seemed that he was only partially stable while working, and while not he was a mess of emotions. The emptiness was unbearable and was literally destroying him. He went to a therapist for a while, but when he noticed that talking about it more often and for almost an hour twice every week was making him feel worse, he decided to quit. 

Almost two years had to go by for him to say that he had gotten pretty over it. It still hurt, of course, but he took refuge in the happy memories he had of it. He couldn’t avoid feeling overwhelmed, but since then he had only been getting better. Always on his own and deflecting questions and chats about the matter. Maybe it wasn’t the best way to get over the loss of a child, but it was what worked for him. 

Now, five years later, he opted to remember his girl with the few things he had left of her. Her box. All the ultrasounds, a pair of pink little knitted shoes, one of the pregnancy tests he took when he found out, and a few other things he didn’t look at that frequently. Sadly, that was the only few things he had of her. 

Sitting on his sofa, with the white hexagonal box in his hands, he went through the memories he had of that same day and the nine months that preceded it, but five years ago. 

The shock of giving birth in those conditions had made him forget almost every part of it, except for the emotions he felt. The fear invading his body when the first contraction hit him in that meeting had not found until that date another one strong enough to beat it. The love he felt when his baby girl was born was so overwhelming, so pure, so different and unique that he was still searching for a love that could match with it, with how he remembers it felt. 

But if he tries to remember facts, he can’t. The only thing he knows is that he gave birth in the bathroom of a restaurant, and between that, he can barely distinguish the shade of what was once the face of his baby in the back of his mind. Nothing else. He couldn’t remember which was the colour of her eyes, if she had a lot of hair or not, he couldn’t even remember if she was alive or not. His heart had blocked itself in a cage so those memories wouldn’t torment him for the rest of his life. And that was for sure what helped him go through that pain and move on eventually. 

Before he got emotionally stable, he used to open his box whenever he wanted to. Now he did it only on April 28th. The only exception had been Eve’s rapture back in late October, but since 2013 he only opened that box when his little girl would have turned a year older. 

He removed the stamped white lid and was immediately met by the neat and organised stack of ultrasound pictures, right next to the pregnancy test. He smiled melancholically at the wave of weirdly positive and happy emotions that flowed through him. He first took the test, feeling again all that mixture of feelings he had when he shared with his mum his first thoughts on being pregnant. Fear had taken over him almost six years ago, but it had been followed by love and some kind of excitement not so long afterwards. He sincerely couldn’t believe how those dark pink lines were still there even after all those years, but he was sort of happy they were there still. He subconsciously rubbed his soft tummy, currently empty of any child.

His difficulty to conceive was a matter that he thought he had solved a long time ago, but when he had to tell Eve he wasn't sure he would be able to get pregnant again, all the self-hatred and anxiety rose from where they had been hiding. That’s when he knew that those matters weren’t actually solved, if not being hidden away from himself and the people who loved him. It was true that when he first found out and a quite long time afterwards he felt useless, and he used to tell himself so almost every day. Then he got to a point where he could say he had forgotten. He had no mate or partner for that matter and spent his heats alone, that meant no sex, therefore no breeding, and no external desire to form a family. 

That was maybe one of the reasons that scared him the most about settling down emotionally. If he happened to fall in love with someone and start a relationship, be it an alpha or not, probably at some point of it they would talk about being parents, and he would have to acknowledge the fact that he was an omega who had it difficult to carry children, he couldn't fulfil the only reason he was an omega for. It was sad. 

Brushing away those thoughts from his mind, he continued to look at his precious memories of what once was his twenty-three-year-old self, left pregnant and alone, but as happy as he had ever been. Next up there was the blood test he had done to make sure that the homemade ones were accurate. He went past it, it was just an accumulation of useless information right now. 

Smiling at the sight, he took the handcrafted album of ultrasound pics he had made, and went through it, remembering almost everything from his appointments and the pregnancy itself. He would remember how he thought for almost a month that his baby’s movements were gas until he saw her move in an ultrasound and felt the bubbly sensation at the same time and realised it was her. He would remember as well the one time his sisters painted his belly with black permanent marker and he wouldn’t be able to get it off. It was just so overwhelming, the good kind, though. 

He went through the photos, remembering how in the first appointment he saw the yolk sac right next to the embryo and thought he was expecting twins until Liam told him what it was and he felt like he could breathe again. He kept going through them, remembering how it felt when he took each and every single one of those pictures until he got to the 3D scans, where her face was shown. The very first thought he got back then was that she looked like Zayn, and now, five years later, he still thinks so. He was positive that she would have been extremely beautiful if she had gotten the chance to grow up, Zayn’s facial features were gorgeous but overall strong, so she was most likely to resemble him. He hoped for her to have his blue eyes, but if she had had them, he didn’t know. He also hoped, during all of his pregnancy, that she turned out to be a beta, a human. He wanted her to inherit that from Zayn, but sadly she passed away too young to tell. If she had lived and been human, she wouldn't have gone through all the trouble that being a wolf implies, which he would have wished for his little one.

He kept doing that, remembering the good parts of his pregnancy and attempting not to cry whenever an emotion was too intense. It took him almost an hour, but he finally went through all the stuff he had left of Olivia and now he felt relieved. The tension he had felt the week before was left aside once he did this ever since he “got over it”. It was some sort of a pattern, a ritual.

He left the box where it belonged and gave a kiss to the 28 tattoo he had between his second and third knuckle in his ring and middle finger of his left hand. It was for her, to have her inked on his skin and make sure he would never forget her. 

He proceeded to start lunch since he hadn’t had anything for breakfast and it was quarter to twelve already. He made some mac and cheese, feeling proud of himself for not setting his house on fire and ate quietly, sitting cross-legged on his sofa. 

At around two o’clock he decided it was a prudent time to call Harry to wish Eve a happy birthday. So that is what he did. He unplugged his phone from its charger and dialled Harry’s number, hoping for him to not be busy, so he would pick up. 

“Lou?” He heard through the phone. Harry had picked up the call kind of quickly. 

“Yeah, it’s me,” Louis said, smiling and blushing slightly for no particular reason. 

“How have you been?” Harry asked. On the other side of the call, Harry stopped decorating the cake so he could talk to Louis properly. He was making Eve’s birthday cake, like every year since he started to celebrate Eve’s birthday with birthday parties. 

“Good, enjoying my day off. What about you?” And, for the first time, Louis was certainly thankful that to fate they were meant to be, because only hearing his voice, even on the 28th of April, made him genuinely smile. It was annoyingly cute, even if he didn’t realise he had that sort of effect on him. 

“Been decorating a cake for about…” he checked his watch to make sure what time it was. “3 hours now. Nothing too interesting” he said, putting his phone between his ear and shoulder so he could grab the piping bag again and finish off the little segment of icing he had left.

“Nice…” Louis –like whenever he called Harry– ran out of things to talk about, so he went straight to the point. Telling Eve happy birthday. “I was calling to wish Eve a happy birthday, is she there?” He asked, pulling away his brunette hair off of his face. It was getting too long, he would have to do something about it. 

“Lou, it’s two in the afternoon, why would Eve be home?” He said, trying to not laugh.

“Of course,” He said to himself once he realised Eve was at school. How could he forget, it was Friday, of course, she was at school. “Sorry I… I don’t know what went through my mind. I’ll call later if you don't mind.” He was about to hang up; face red in embarrassment, but hearing Harry’s rushed voice stopped him from doing so. 

“Don’t hang up” he heard. “I… I actually was planning to call you” the redness on Louis’ face got even deeper. He had never thanked enough the fact that he was talking through phone and not face to face. “You see, we’re throwing a birthday party, and… It would mean a lot to her if you came” Louis thought he would die because of the giddiness Harry was making him feel. He could imagine him, as red as he was now, asking him to go to his daughter’s birthday party. And then he got to the realisation that Eve had probably insisted a lot for him to do so and that giddiness vanished away within seconds. Don't get them wrong, it was the fifth time he had been invited to one of her parties, only that the previous years he had been too sad to leave home, so he had never gone to one. “You don’t have to, of course. It’s a five-year-old birthday party, it’ll be full of kids and smelly feet, there’ll be barely any adults but… I had to ask” Louis smiled sweetly at the other end of the phone. This time he would go, it wasn’t as if he had anything important to do that couldn’t be postponed and he actually felt decent enough. 

“I’ll go. Text me the address and the time I have to be there” he said, giving some sort of an end to Harry’s rambling. 

“Thank you, Lou,” he said then, smiling even if it was imperceptible to Louis. 

“It’s nothing. I… I guess I’ll just see you later” he said, smiling as well, trying to wrap up the conversation so he could start thinking about the present he'd have to give her. That was in his mind already, and until he found the perfect one, he wouldn’t stop. 

“Bye, Lou” 

“Bye, Haz” he finished the call and got up from the couch, trying to find his computer. 

He didn’t have any idea of what to get to a five-year-old girl, and he didn’t want it to be the typical cliche present of a doll or a stuffed animal, he wanted it to be more personal. He considered himself as someone who knew her, he didn’t want to get her something someone else could.

He started to search for ideas, but nothing seemed to be working. He couldn’t figure out what to give to her. It wasn’t as if the money he would have to spend was a problem, he just couldn’t seem to find something he liked and knew that Eve would like. To make him feel even more rushed, Harry texted him the address and the timing. The party started at five o’clock, so he had less than three hours to get himself decent, go buy Eve’s present and show up at the place. 

He closed his MacBook Pro and was left still clueless of what to get her, and with half an hour less to do everything he had to before heading to the place. He got up from the sofa he was sitting on, thinking that maybe something would occur to him after taking a shower.

And then he faced his own grand piano and the idea finally came. And oh god, Harry would kill him.

He would give her a piano. Maybe not a piano exactly, but a keyboard, and maybe some piano lessons as well so she can actually learn how to play it. 

He grabbed his computer again, deciding on finding first the model he wanted to buy and find where to get it. He browsed for about fifteen minutes until he found a music house where he could go, buy it and take it with him all in the same day and wouldn’t have to go through shipping and stuff. When he found it, he gasped at the prices, thing he thought he wouldn’t actually do on a normal basis. Many keyboards were up to fifteen hundred pounds or even more, but then he saw that those were stage keyboards and that, of course, they would be ten times more expensive. Not as expensive as a grand piano, his own had been about nine thousand pounds, but still, for a keyboard, fifteen hundred pounds was a bit too much. He kept browsing until he found a Yamaha keyboard that was seven hundred pounds, not in the edge of extremely cheap but not extremely expensive. He knew the brand was actually really good and remarkable, and he wanted to give her a keyboard that would last, so he decided on buying that model. 

He searched as well if the store had a deal with a music academy so he could buy some lessons in advance that Eve could take whenever she wanted. He found them, and it was conveniently a music academy that wasn’t that far away from the hospital. 

He was about to call the music house to ask if that keyboard was in stock but while he was dialling he saw a green sign that said “on stock” so he left his mobile aside and, with a triumphant smile, he closed his MacBook and headed to the bathroom to take a shower. 

He showered pretty quickly as he had nothing to think about in-depth and took his time to choose his outfit. In London, summer took its time to arrive, and when in other places the weather was rather nice at the beginning of May, there it was still chilly. It wasn’t as cold as it was in winter, but especially at night, you could feel the temperature drop a few degrees. Because of that and the fact that he was going to a children’s birthday party and not work, he decided on going casual. He took a pair of plain grey distressed skinny jeans, some black leather boots, a plain white tee shirt with its sleeves shorter than he usually likes them and a yellowish light brown pullover. When he tried the whole outfit on, he decided he would change his boots for some casual vans, and he happened to have a pair that almost matched the colour of his pullover so he grabbed those and threw them on. Thinking he looked decent enough, he went to the bathroom again to brush his teeth and do something to his hair, which was getting sort of long and didn’t want to stay in place no matter what Louis did. After twenty long minutes –and a lot of hairspray– he managed to leave his hair in a quiff, looking decent and out of his face, so he left finally to the music house to buy the keyboard. 

Traffic was an actual nightmare that afternoon. He knew he had to leave earlier because he had to go buy the present and said place and the party were pretty far from his house and, to his luck, in opposite directions, but he never thought that it would be that difficult to make it in time. Of course, being stuck in traffic reminded him that it was actually Friday, and on Fridays, traffic tended to be worse than it was already. He remembered the time he lived in Los Angeles because traffic there was even worse and that situation actually reminded him of it. 

Finally, he got to the music house. It took him thirty minutes more than it was expected but he did, arriving there at ten past four. He got inside and thanked the gods above that there was barely anyone there. If he was lucky, it wouldn’t take him too long to buy the keyboard. He didn’t even take a look at the keyboards on display in the store, he remembered the model of keyboard he saw and was going to ask straight for it. Thinking he would be late was stressing him out. 

A shop assistant, a human guy that was barely nineteen years old, if that, approached him. He was good looking and for the way he checked Louis out, he was either a bisexual or gay. Luckily, wolf genders didn't affect humans so he could say he was safe.

“Hi, welcome to the Music Palace, how can I help you?” He said, showing a pretty deep voice for such a young age.

“Hello. I’m looking for a keyboard I saw on your website. It’s the Yamaha PSR-EW410” he said, reading the name tag in the guy’s tee shirt just to be sure.

“Of course, we have it in white, grey or black” The guy, Darren, said, glaring at Louis with a grin. “Which one should I show you?” he asked afterwards. 

“Do you have the three on display?” Louis asked. 

“We do”

“Then I’d like to see them all,” Louis said, following Darren when he started to walk towards the stairs. It was a pretty big place and had two floors, the top one being visible from the bottom one. Darren stopped in front of three keyboards aligned, making Louis stop as well. 

“These are the ones we have. I know Yamaha produces them in other colours as well but the store only brought these three” Louis nodded at said statement and looked at the three keyboards in front of him. Both, black and white ones were beautiful, but as he knew it was going to be for Eve and she was all of bright colours, he thought she would like the white one better. 

“I’ll take the white one,” he said simply, not even looking at the price tag. He knew it was expensive, but he also knew that Eve’s face when she opens it would be worth it.

“Okay. Will you take it yourself or do you want us to send it to your house? If that, it will be there by Monday” Darren said as he guided Louis to the main counter so he could pay. 

“I’ll take it myself, thanks,” Louis said simply, following him. 

“Flynn, he’ll take the Yamaha PSR-EW410 in white. No shipping” Darren talked to the guy behind the counter, who inserted said facts in the computer as Darren went to grab the keyboard itself. 

“Well... it’ll be six-ninety nine,” Flynn said, another human, and Louis searched for his bank debit card in his wallet. “You can do eighteen payments without surcharge with Visa MasterCard,” he said afterwards, still typing on the computer to get the receipt. 

“I’ll pay with a debit card,” Louis said, handing him the card. The guy looked at him impressed. Almost everyone who bought an instrument paid in dues, really few people paid all at once. He passed it on the machine and handed Louis a little one to put the pin on. He put it, which was the date of that day casually and handed the small grey device back to the cashier. Flynn handed him the receipt and other paper. “Thank you for buying in The Music Palace. With this receipt, you have three years of warranty and with this one, you can take the product in that counter”, he pointed to a counter where a red-haired woman was behind, wrapping a violin in its box in gift wrap. 

“Thank you. By the way, is it here where I can buy lessons? I read you had a deal with a music academy on your website” he said, not putting away his debit card. 

“We do, yes. Here we have a flier with the schedules of the academy. Piano lessons are Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at five o’clock if you’re interested” he gave Louis the flier and he looked through it, finding what the guy had said and a few others. 

“I want to buy some lessons but do they have to be taken on a specific day or can the person choose? It’s for a present” Louis explained. 

“You buy the lessons and we give you as many vouchers as lessons you’ve bought. Whoever gets them can choose frequency and timing, and they don’t expire” the guy explained kindly. Louis nodded, then handed him his debit card again. 

“I’ll get fifteen, then,” he said, to which the cashier nodded and grabbed his card. He did the same procedure and handed him another receipt with fifteen cardboard vouchers. “Thank you,” He said once everything was handed back to him. 

“You’re welcome”

Louis turned around and walked quickly to the other counter where the red-haired girl was waiting. 

“Hi, I have this to take” he handed her the stamped second receipt and after she read it, she put a large white box with the Yamaha brand logo on it and a picture of the keyboard in black. Pretty strong for an omega girl. “Can you wrap it in gift wrap? It’s for a present” he asked kindly. 

“Of course. Which one do you like?” She asked him and showed him a ton of different gift wraps, from which he chose a white one with hearts in silver and golden. It took her some time to wrap it because the box was pretty large, but when she did, she put a big white bow on top and slid the box softly on the counter’s surface. “All done. Have a nice day” she said sweetly. 

Louis thanked her with a smile and grabbed the box, deciding he would take it vertically since it was too big and heavy to carry it otherwise. He was extremely careful not to rip the gift wrap, and, slowly but surely made it to the parking lot where he had left his car. He opened the trunk of his black C - Class Sedan Mercedes with the key and put the keyboard there, being again, extremely careful. 

And then he drove to the address Harry had sent him earlier, praying that he would show up in time. It was almost half-past four and the traffic hadn’t gotten much better than when he went there, so he was hoping for the best. 

Finally, and because he asked Siri to guide him so he wouldn't get stuck in the traffic, he made it to the place only fifteen minutes late. It still disappointed him, but it wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be. He parked a few houses down from the place because there was no room for him to park closer. He got out of his car and opened the truck to take the keyboard out of it. He did and closed the truck again and walked the few steps he had left to get to the house. He recognised it for the rose gold, white and silver balloons hung up on the door and walls of the place. 

He rang the doorbell and not so long after he saw Harry walking down the few stairs that were between the entrance and the fence. Harry smiled at him with dimples and all, until he saw the huge box Louis was carrying. 

“Lou, what?” Harry asked confused, clearly referring to the box. 

“Hi Haz, long time no see. How has your life been? Good? What about mine? Oh, fine as well, thanks for asking” Louis said with sass, not being able to hide the huge smile on his face. It was uncontrollable, his reactions whenever he saw Harry were so impulsive, so raw.

“What is this?” He said, completely ignoring what Louis had said about them greeting each other.

“Her present, duh,” he said, forgetting as well about all the greeting thing. 

“Oh lord, what have you got her? Please tell me you haven’t spent as much money as I think you did” he continued, wanting to look actually concerned but, even if he was, he couldn’t erase the smile off of his face. 

“I haven’t spent as much money as you think I did,” Louis said, rolling his eyes but smiling still. Everything about him was smiles and blushing when Harry was around, even if he was mad or hadn’t had a good day. Harry sighed. “Although, I may be lying to you” and the younger one opened his eyes in surprise. 

“I don’t even want to know” Harry muttered. 

“I know you do. Won’t tell you anyways” Louis giggled softly then. Harry looked at him fondly. “Anyways, can we go inside? Want to see Evie” 

“‘Course” Harry answered, seeing how Louis lifted the heavy large and long box with his not so big self and walked up the steps, only to follow him from behind afterwards. Once they both were inside there was a not so long hallway, painted in white that had two doors. One on the right and the other one on the left. The first one was the wardrobe and the second one was the kitchen. Both of them were open. “The AC is on and it’s actually really hot in there. Maybe you want to leave your jacket in the wardrobe” Harry offered, closing the door behind them. 

“I’ll see what I do” Louis answered simply, still holding the keyboard. “Lead the way,” he said when Harry stepped in front of him. They both walked towards the end of the hallway, which opened in a room with three tables. One was with the cake, another one was with food and snacks for the children and the other one, the largest one, had a lot of people sitting around and chatting, whose looks went straight to them when they saw them arrive. The smirk on Niall’s face was terrifying. 

Said room was connected to another with a really wide arcade an on the other side of it there were a lot of games, and a few teens cheering the party. Music was playing from the speakers and, as it was early still, there wasn’t much going on in there. Just Eve playing with some of her school friends and some of Harry’s workmates on the other side. 

“Eve!!” Eve looked behind to where her father was calling her from and opened up her mouth in surprise when she saw Louis. She didn’t know he was coming, Harry wanted to surprise her since he knew how much the aforementioned meant to her. 

“Lou!” She left what she was doing and ran to Louis, who left the box on the floor and opened his arms to hug her when she came. She hugged him tightly, smiling excitedly in the crook of his neck. She was growing, she was taller than before.

“Happy birthday, love” he hugged her back, feeling all the combo of emotion he felt whenever he was near her be released. He breathed in deeply so he could catch her scent. And it was getting sweeter by the day.

“Thank you, Lou” Harry was smiling behind them, watching fondly. “Didn’t know you would come”

“I called you to wish you a happy birthday and your dad invited me” he looked up at Harry with shiny eyes, tinted in an almost transparent blue, and when they found Harry’s, they were shining green as well, expressing just with a look everything words couldn’t say. It happened every time his and Harry’s eyes met, a rush of unexplainable emotions ran through both of them, making them feel confused, but also right. It felt right.

“Thank you, dad,” she said, hugging Harry afterwards. 

“You’re welcome, sweetheart” Harry murmured, bending down slightly to kiss her head. 

“I got you a present,” said Louis when Eve and Harry broke their hug. Louis moved slightly to the right, letting Eve see the large box beside him. She smiled brightly and approached the box, tearing the gift wrap excitedly as Harry and Louis watched her. She gasped when she saw the image of the keyboard on the box and looked at Louis as if she couldn't believe it. 

“It’s a keyboard!” She said excitedly, leaving said keyboard with gift wrap still and hugging Louis tightly again, while Harry only looked at Louis without being able to believe what he had done. “Thank you, Lou!” She kept hugging him while Harry and Louis exchanged a look that knew that there was going to be a chat about that later. 

She broke the hug and kept unwrapping her present, looking as excited as she had ever been. 

“You’re welcome, sweetheart,” Louis said softly, looking at her with an undeniable smile of love and endearment. 

“I can’t believe it, it's fantastic!” Fantastic was Harry’s face when he read the brand and saw its logo. 

“Yamaha, Lou?” He asked, pulling Louis slightly towards his side by grabbing him by the arm. “This must’ve cost you a fortune,” he said, slightly more seriously. 

“I’m not having this conversation right now, she’s happy Haz. It was nothing” Harry bit his lip before continuing the conversation, giving himself the time to decide that he wouldn’t actually. Not in that moment, not when he could see excitement written on his daughter’s face.

“I want to play it so bad,” she said then, looking at Louis with her blue eyes shining in excitement. 

“And for that, I got you some lessons,” he said, handing Harry the already paid fifteen vouchers, to which Harry looked even more surprised. Those did nothing but grow the questioning in Harry. He knew he had to show himself grateful; he would never be able to buy that piano himself, and seeing how excited Eve was about it should make him feel happy as well. But he could only think of how much money Louis had spent on it, and that didn’t feel well, that was hitting his pride. “They’re fifteen and are already paid. It’s a music academy near the hospital actually” Louis explained under the overwhelmed look of Harry and the excited look of Eve. “I’ll text you the link to their website when I get home so you can check them”

“This means a lot, Lou. Thank you so much!” She hugged him by his side and so did he, leaving a kiss on her head just as Harry had done earlier. 

“You’re welcome, honey. Now, go play with your friends. Harry and I will leave this with the rest of the presents, okay?” She nodded excitedly and ran to her friends again and kept playing whatever they were playing. Harry looked at him as soon as Eve left with a look that said it all. 

“I don’t even want to know how much that keyboard was, Louis. Why? Why so expensive?” He asked when he saw Louis attempting to grab the box so they could go where the presents were and put it with them. He took the box instead, having Louis walking by his side. 

“I wanted to give her something more personal, you know? I’ve known her since she was born, I didn’t want to give her a present anyone else could” he said as they were walking to a corner in the room that had all the presents organised in a rack. Some of them were open and some had the envelope still on. 

“Still, it’s too much, Lou” Harry protested again, looking at Louis with a not so funny look. 

“It’s not. When I bought it I chose that one because I wanted it to last, and I know they’re good quality. Besides, I can” he explained, looking at how Harry’s shirt rose at his back when he bent down, letting him see the beginnings of two love handles that made him smile sweetly “I don’t like saying this but I have too much money that I don’t use. I already give half of it to charities and stuff and once in a while I like to do things like this, so I won’t let you pay not even a cent for it, nor will I let you keep complaining” Louis said firmly, looking at how Harry’s smile rose slowly, starting from the left corner of his lips until it got wide and dimply. How could he not be gone for that smile? “You’re acting like an old man, always complaining. And let me remind you, Harry, I’m the oldest one, for two years”

They both started to walk towards the adult’s table, where some of Harry’s workmates, Niall and Harry’s boss and his wife were. Harry’s laugh got to be heard as they walked, making Louis smile as well. They both sat in two consecutive chairs at the table, being stared at for almost everyone.

“Well, guys, this is Louis Tomlinson, Eve’s doctor and a really good friend of mine” he introduced Louis at the curious looks everyone was giving them. 

“It’s really nice to meet you all” Louis said politely, smiling nicely. 

Niall smirked at them knowingly, so did all the guys that were there when Louis went to pick Eve up from that concert Harry had a while ago. The rest of them smiled nicely or nodded their heads. Then, the conversation just went in, people talking with people about whatever they had been before they interrupted them. 

“By the way, thank you, Lou” Harry murmured before getting into another conversation. “I’ve never seen her this happy before, and it’s because of you, not only the present” he continued, making Louis blush gradually. 

“You don’t have to thank me, but as I know you’ll keep doing it if I don’t say ‘you’re welcome’, then, you’re welcome, Haz” Harry smiled at him and they both shared a fond look before fitting in the first conversation they heard of, feeling embarrassingly whipped, even if neither of them would admit it if asked. 


	12. Chapter X

Eve had been obsessed with her keyboard so much she played it almost constantly ever since she and Harry got back to their house from her birthday party. Eve and Harry had actually gotten to play some classical piece once when Harry wasn’t as busy as he is now. She loved expressing herself but overall her emotions through music, in that she was just like Harry. 

About three weeks had gone by since Eve’s birthday, and at half-past four in the afternoon she was doing the exact same thing she did from the time she got back from pre-school until dinner time, every single day: play the piano. For Harry, it was beautiful at first, but as it is every single day for at least four hours he, of course, grew tired of it. He even gave the little omega a pair of earphones so she could play and he could rehearse at the same time. 

However, that day had she been acting slightly different. Eve had come from pre-school particularly tired; a strong headache pounding in her head. Harry noticed her lack of a good mood and asked about it, but she chose not to get too deep into it. She just said that she was overall tired and that she’d maybe take a nap. She played the piano in her room for about an hour, without earphones because she knew her father didn’t have to rehearse and it wouldn’t bother him that much, but when the clock was getting closer to five in the afternoon the tiredness she felt got so strong that it obligated her to leave the keyboard aside and lie down on her bed for a bit. That bit turned out to be an hour and a half of napping that only got interrupted by Harry’s knock on her door to tell her to come to eat dinner. 

“Love, dinner is ready,” Harry said, peeking his head through the door and looking at the barely lit room, finding Eve sound asleep. 

“Coming” she murmured lightly, sound being muffled by the pillow covering her mouth. Harry left to the dining room and met with Eve ten minutes later, who seemed to be even more tired than before. Her skin was tinted with a yellowish tone that made her look ill, her aspect was terrible and that worried Harry immediately. 

“You feeling good?” The alpha asked when he first saw her. She was rubbing her left eye and fixing her pyjamas. “Love, you don’t look good” Harry insisted again as she sat, getting even more worried about her skin colouration. 

“I’m fine dad, just very tired,” she said, reassuring her father, even if he didn’t believe her. Truth to be told, she wasn’t feeling well, and she knew her father would take her to the hospital, and she didn’t want to, so she just chose to play it cool. Even if the hospital meant seeing Louis, being stuck in there for a week wasn’t one of her favourite activities. 

“Okay,” Harry said, leaving the topic alone finally. “How was school today? We barely talked when you got home” he tried to start a conversation since, if she wasn’t feeling ill, he supposed she was just in a bad mood and he wanted to cheer her up. 

“It was just good, as always,” she said discouraged, playing around with the food on her plate. She wasn’t hungry at all. 

Harry had cooked homemade mac and cheese, and it was one of Eve’s favourite meals. He thought she would like it, but she wasn’t saying anything of it. 

“Love, I made mac and cheese, it’s your favourite” Harry insisted, wanting to hold a conversation with his daughter after a long day, not being successful. 

“I know. I just… I’m not hungry dad” she said, still playing with her fork, moving the food around the plate. She ate a little normally, but when she was ill, she ate even less. 

“But you have to eat, honey. You haven’t even touched your lunch and I haven’t seen you eat anything else today” Harry talked sweetly, leaving his own fork aside and putting his rather big hand on top of Eve’s small one. She was just tiny in general. 

“Don’t want to” she insisted. 

“Come on, Ev, just half of it,” Harry asked and Eve gave him a pleading look. 

That plate itself was little, asking her to eat half of it shouldn’t be too much, but it certainly was. To help her, Harry halved her plate and separated the two portions, putting on his own plate the half that looked the smallest. And even if Eve wasn’t feeling well and didn’t want to eat at all, she managed to eat half of it, a quarter of her original portion because she didn’t want to disappoint her dad. She hated it when they argued. 

“Just a tiny bit more and you’re done, love” Harry tried again. 

“I really can’t” she refused, putting her fork on top of the plate and backing away from the table. Harry smiled worriedly. 

“It’s okay, love. You did good” Harry praised her as she left a tiny smile paint her face. She wasn’t feeling well at all and now she was full. That wasn’t going to end up well. 

She waited, sitting at the table until Harry finished his meal and once he was done, he picked up both of the plates and carried them to the kitchen where he would leave them to wash tomorrow. He wasn’t feeling up to doing the dishes that night. 

“Dad…” he heard when he was coming back to the living room. 

“Mhm?” He murmured. 

“I - I think I might thr…” and she wasn’t able to complete the sentence because a rush of arcades hit her, making her throw up the little food she had eaten for dinner on the wooden floor. 

Harry approached her as fast as he could, to contain her and comfort her while she puked. He put a hand on her back and pulled her hair out of her face. 

“It’s okay, sweetheart. I shouldn’t have forced you to eat” Harry said softly, stroking her back with one hand while with the other he kept the hair out of her face. 

“I’m sorry” she mumbled when she finished, looking up at her father with shiny eyes and her mouth wet with saliva. She started crying then, and Harry hugged her tightly. 

“It’s okay, love. It’s nothing, it’ll be over soon, I promise” he said sweetly, stroking her back as she cried, hidden away in the crook of his neck. 

“I don’t like throwing up,” she said between sobs, hugging her father as if her life depended on it. 

“I know you don’t, love. No one does” Harry’s soothed voice was slowly calming down her sobs, and they would end pretty soon hopefully. “Come on, let’s go clean you up so you can go to bed. You’re tired and we both deserve a good rest” she nodded at Harry’s suggestion and, still clinging onto him, they both left to the bathroom to wash her face and teeth. 

He helped washed her face and teeth, and once in her bedroom picked up another pyjama top for her to put on. When she did, they both laid on her bed, and she didn’t take long to fall asleep on her father’s chest, breathing heavily. Poor thing, that day had been particularly exhausting. 

Harry got up from her bed and walked to the dining room, where he, much to his displeasure, had to clean the puke from the wooden floor before it got worse. He grabbed a wet cloth and with an unpleasant expression, cleaned the mess his daughter had done earlier. He didn’t blame her, of course, she was ill, but cleaning puke was still disgusting. 

Once he was done he grabbed his phone and searched for Louis’ contact as fast as he could. Luckily for him, it wasn’t late yet, so calling wouldn’t make him feel that bad. He waited until he picked up, feeling relieved when after the second tone Louis’ voice was heard from the other side of the call. 

“Harry, hi! How are you? What have you calling?” Louis asked cheerful, not even expecting what Harry had to tell him. 

“Hi, Lou. I’m fine, thanks” he said first, letting the omega know something was off by the tone of his voice. It wasn’t intentional, he was worried and it would be noticeable. “Look I… I’m calling because of Eve,” he said afterwards. 

“Is she okay? Have you had trouble with the keyboard?” Louis asked, feeling slightly more worried as well but trying not to show it to Harry. 

“Actually, not. The keyboard is just fine, it’s her” Harry walked towards his bedroom, sitting on his bed and realising he was way more tired than he thought he was. “She was acting weird when she got home from school, I thought she was in a bad mood so I didn’t worry” he explained, trying to find a reason why Eve had been acting that way and sadly, finding none. “Then she took a nap and she never does” Louis was listening carefully and nodding his head, even if the alpha wasn’t there to see it. “She hadn’t practically eaten throughout the whole day and if I hadn’t insisted she wouldn’t have had dinner tonight, which she puked,” he told him, rubbing his eyes because of the tiredness but so worried he wouldn’t be able to sleep if he tried. “I don’t know what to do and I’m hella worried, Lou”.

“It probably doesn’t have to do with her lupus. Maybe it’s just a stomach bug that got in that will go away eventually. Not much can be done to those cases, they develop on their own” Louis explained, trying to think of the case more objectively. “Does she have a cold as well? High temperature? Something else that worries you?” He asked, just to make sure that his diagnosis was as accurate as possible. He wanted to avoid recommending taking her to the hospital because he knew she hated it, so if he could sort this out by phone it would be awesome. 

“Her skin is getting yellow. Like, really yellow. It really worried me when I first saw it” he heard Louis gasp on the other side of the phone. “As for now, I think she doesn’t have a fever, I could check anyway,” he said then. 

“This thing of her skin, is it spotting or just her skin in general?” He asked; the tone of his voice changing drastically. 

“Literally, her skin overall looks yellow, all of it.” he clarified afterwards, confirming Louis’ fears. 

“Shit” Louis murmured. “Look, I need you to take her to the hospital as soon as you can, okay? I know it might take you by surprise but you really need to. Now. I’ll be there as well” he said, getting up and searching for his things. Thankfully he hadn’t changed the outfit he wore to go to work, so he could just leave and not be bothered by it. “Check if she has a high temperature, please,” the omega asked, having with him almost everything he needed to leave his house. 

Worry was running through Harry’s veins in its most pure state; a shiver running down his spine simultaneously. Before he mentioned the yellowing of her skin everything seemed to be fine, what was it that had changed?

He entered Eve’s room, and thought of turning the lights on, but decided not to do it so he wouldn’t disturb her that much. He touched her forehead, confirming that she had in fact high temperature, just as Louis seemed to have predicted. 

“She does, yeah. Don’t know how high it is” he said, sitting on a free spot on his daughter’s bed. 

“Listen, this is what we’re going to do. You are gonna wake her up and take her temperature and then I want you both in the ER, okay?” Louis asked, fidgeting with his house and car keys and thanking the lord he hadn’t taken off his work clothes yet. 

“Okay okay. Bye Lou, guess I’ll just see you” Harry said before hanging up, not letting Louis say anything. 

He was worried, almost as he had never been before. His blood just knew something really big was really off and that couldn’t be good, but he secretly hoped that when Louis checked her he would find nothing and they could get back home to sleep. He knew as well that wouldn’t be the case judging by the omega's attitude on the phone. Now he had to pray and hope for the best. 

He stood up and switched on Eve’s bedside lamp and, with barely any light in the room he opened her closet and started to put pyjamas and panties in a bag she had at the end of the bed. It was the one she used to go to preschool, so he had to empty it of her books and stuff first. Once he was content with the two pyjamas, three panties and a change of clothes he closed it, leaving it on the floor right beside the bed. 

“Love” he touched her shoulder. She was in a very deep sleep regardless of the short amount of time she had actually been sleeping. “Evie, wake up” Harry insisted, shaking her shoulder really lightly. She woke up eventually, with a pretty uncomfortable look on her face and her eyes swollen. “Hi there”.

“What’s happening?” She asked slowly, laying her head on her pillow again, laying on her back instead of her side. 

“You've got a high temperature, I need to take it,” he said lightly, uncovering her from all the covers she had thrown over herself. She refused, pulling her covers tightly. 

“No, I’m cold,” she said. 

“I know you are but it’ll be worse if you leave them on” Harry helped her sit and rest on her white cushioned headboard. “There, leave it like that” he pulled away all her covers except for the pink bedsheets he had put the last time he had made her bed. She frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. “I’ll go get the thermometer, okay?” He said caressing her arm and leaving, not after seeing her nod slightly. He practically ran to the bathroom and grabbed the thermometer and went back to put it under Eve’s left armpit. he Sat beside her, caressing her cheek at her look of discomfort. “How do you feel?” He asked her. 

“Bad” she chose to answer shortly but felt bad immediately for her father, so she continued. “All my body is burning and it hurts” she explained afterwards. 

“I know love” Harry offered her a sympathetic look. “But now we’re going to the hospital to see Lou. Maybe he has something to fix this” she smiled lightly at the mention of Louis, even though seeing Louis meant going to the hospital. She really didn’t want to go to the hospital, but given how she felt, arguing about it was not a possibility. 

Eventually, the thermometer did its sound and when Harry took it out it confirmed that Eve had a high temperature, in fact, 39.8 degrees Celsius. 

“Let’s get up, okay?” the alpha said sweetly, getting up himself and setting the thermometer apart. He offered his hand to Eve, who grabbed it with one and with the other pulled the bedsheets away, shivering at the touch of her bare feet on the wooden floor when she sat at the edge of her bed. “I’ll help you put your shoes on and we’ll leave, okay?” She nodded, looking at her father grabbing a pair of socks and her Crocs, which would be the most comfortable for now. He put the socks on Eve’s feet and she put the Crocs on her own. She stood up reluctantly then, looking at Harry on a full state of discomfort and sickness. 

Harry pulled one of the blankets from the little omega’s bed and wrapped it around her, knowing she would get worse if she left home just in her pyjamas, and it also smelled of home. She smiled lightly at the gesture. 

“Let’s leave before it gets too late,” Harry said, grabbing the bag and leading Eve slowly towards the door of her room. Once they reached the living room he sat Eve on the sofa and wrapped her better on the blanket. “I have to grab some more things just in case we have to stay the night there. Won’t take too long” he kissed her forehead as she nodded and walked to the bathroom again to grab some towels and personal hygiene stuff such as their toothbrushes, hairbrush and so on. He also decided to make a bag for himself just in case. He just threw some plain and random tee shirts, a few sweatpants, a few boxers and socks and everything he had grabbed from the bathroom as well. He closed his black bag and walked quickly to the living room where Eve was waiting for him. 

“Ready, Love?” He asked his daughter, grabbing the bag he had packed for her as well. She nodded and stood up again, letting Harry see how difficult it was for her to do so. 

Then he leads her outside, seeing how she shivered at the cold breeze. It wasn’t that dark, but the night was coming, so they should better hurry. Harry helped Eve sit on her car seat and then loaded both of the bags in the backseat, just beside her. He put her seatbelt on and closed the door so he could get to the driver’s side and start driving. Then they left. 

Normally it wasn’t too long of a drive, but considering it was Friday at past seven PM, that drive would probably take twice as much as it did normally. Eve fell asleep a few minutes in, and it was expectable. 

Just as Harry predicted, they got to the hospital in twice the time they did normally, turning a ten-minute drive into a twenty-minute one. He chose not to wake Eve up since she didn’t feel well and he could actually carry her, so he hung both of the bags on his back securely and picked up his girl, who clung onto his neck and wrapped her legs on his torso just as Harry lifted her. He fixed the blanket around her and, when all the doors in his car were locked securely, he walked towards the emergency wing of the hospital, scenting his girl really lightly so she would be comfortable. He went up the few steps that were in front of the entrance and walked the whole wide aisle in order to get to the main desk. Nervousness but overall, fear, was running all over him. His hands would be shaking if they weren’t too busy holding his girl tight. 

“Hello, may I help you, sir?” A middle-aged woman asked. She seemed to be in her early forties, and with a sweet smile and hazelnut coloured eyes looked at Harry’s lost ones. 

“Yes, please. Do you know if doctor Tomlinson has arrived?” He asked her, to which she nodded and looked down to type and search in her computer. 

“He is here, yes, but I don’t think you will get to see him now. He doesn’t have a consultation until tomorrow at eight AM. I can give you number twenty-four if you wish” she answered, looking at the bulge his daughter was now, sleeping with her head hidden in the crook of Harry’s neck. 

“No, but thank you very much,” He said politely, even if what the woman had said didn’t help him much. 

He walked away, trying to somehow grab his phone so he could call Louis and tell him he was there already. But before he could physically manage his daughter and the bags he was carrying he saw Louis’ silhouette approaching from the end of a hallway. He was dressed in his doctor uniform and his face clearly resembled the worry he actually felt.

“Hi, Haz,” he said once he finally approached them. 

“Hi, Lou. Sorry, you had to come so unexpectedly” Harry apologised, smiling forcefully at Louis, who was trying to see Eve’s face under her blanket. 

He removed the part of the blanket that was covering her face and saw her, looking extremely tired and sick, with a not so healthy-looking yellow undertone. He was also taken aback by the strength of Harry's scent, but he didn't say a word. Sure, he must have been scenting her. 

“It’s nothing Haz, please” Louis shrugged him off. “Come this way, I’ve already asked for a room for her. She’s staying”. 

Harry followed him, actually expecting what he heard, managing as he could all the extra weight he was carrying and making sure Eve’s Crocs were still on. They walked for a while until eventually, they got to a much calmer and less busy area. Only doctors and nurses were seen walking the aisles and sometimes some visitors that had a signature card hanging from their chest pockets. 

“Lou, where are we?” Harry asked once he started to notice the decreasingly amount of people. 

“The room is in the step-down unit,” Louis said simply, worried and avoiding eye contact with Harry. “It’s where we are” he added once they passed the huge sign hanging on the wall on their right. “I’m not completely sure of what she has yet, but if it is what I’m suspecting, then she may need even more attention,” he said, deciding on telling the truth even if it could be harsh on him. He heard Harry swallow the knot in his throat. “It’s here,” The omega said eventually, stopping in front of a light wooden door that had the number ‘128’ written on it in white. Louis opened the door and let Harry enter first because of everything he was taking with him. 

“Wow, this… this is way more different than last time” he mentioned slowly, looking at the place and all the machines and medical plates that were surrounding them. 

“It is, yeah,” Louis said, removing the white sheets from the bed for Harry to accommodate Eve on the bed as he pleased. Harry did, taking away her blanket and replacing it with the bedsheets. “We need more stuff here, and I asked for some more than the one that’s here normally” Louis explained as Harry dropped their bags on the floor, right beside the bed. 

The bed was located in the middle of the room, having a desk with some machines and a computer on its right and on the left a mobile table and some enamelware of the hospital. Just beside it, on the right side, there was an empty iv pole with its respective pump and a cardiac monitor with its respective electrodes. The room was painted on light beige colour and white curtains hung from the ceiling in front of pretty wide windows. There was a well-equipped bathroom and even a closet as well. Let’s not forget the cliche recliner for whoever that accompanied the patient, that this time was for two at least, instead of the usual armchair. 

“I will need you to undress her and put her in this hospital gown,” Louis said, handing Harry a tightly packed white gown with tiny turquoise dots all over it. Harry nodded, taking it and unfolding it out of its package. 

Louis on his side sat on the computer and started admitting Eve to the hospital.

Harry undressed Eve carefully, trying not to wake her up. He removed the long-sleeved tee shirt of her pyjamas successfully and even put on the gown with no problem. The problem started when he had to remove her pyjama pants and, lift her somehow. That was when she opened her blue eyes, giving her father a look of uncomfortableness and confusion. 

“Dad?” She asked, looking at her surroundings. “Where are we?” She asked then, realising Harry was removing her clothes and doing little effort to help him. Her temperature had gotten even higher if it was possible. 

“Hi, love. We’re at the hospital, you remember I told you we were coming here?” She nodded slowly, seeing Louis behind Harry and smiling softly. Louis gave her a smile back, a small one. “Go back to sleep if you want, we’re staying the night” Harry explained, having her nod and turning her head to the right side to sleep, but only focusing her blue eyes on Louis’. 

“Lou…” she said weakly.

“What is it, love?” He asked sweetly, approaching the bed even more if he could. 

“Your eyes are really pretty,” she said then, maybe because of her temperature getting higher. 

“Thank you,” Louis said, ignoring the fact that she was acting that way because of her sickness. “So are yours” he complimented back, pulling away one strand of chestnut straight hair from her face. He saw her sniff the air slightly when he approached, and a calm smile crept up her face. 

"You smell really nice, too" she complimented. The male omega just smiled and looked at her with pity. 

She kept looking at him as Harry finished removing her pants and her crocs, leaving her only with her socks and her panties under the hospital gown. 

“You’re ready,” Harry said when he finished, scooting away to put her clothes on the bag he had prepared earlier. 

“Sweetie,” Louis said, calling her attention even more. “I know you don’t like needles, but I have to put some IV’s on your hands so you can get medication” Louis explained, seeing her face change at the mention of the words ‘needles’ and ‘IV’s’. She nodded then, not feeling well enough to discuss anything. 

Louis smiled sweetly but worried about her and went to get one of the trays he had asked the nurses to put there. He approached the bed then again, carrying said tray with him. He put on a pair of latex gloves on and, grabbing a third one he turned his body towards Eve. 

“Harry, I need you to bring me that table,” Louis said, signalling the mobile table on the other side of the bed. 

“Sure,” Harry said, approaching said table and bringing it to Louis’ side. Louis on his side pressured one of the buttons of the bed so he could get Eve sitting instead of laying. 

“Love, I’ll need you to extend your arm to me” Eve did as told, handing her left arm to Louis. “That’s it, place it here” she rested it on the table Louis had put in front of her. He placed two IV's, one in each forearm, and from the last one drew two tubes of blood for analysis. 

“There you are, all set” she smiled at him, looking at the weird blue plastic tubes that peaked out from her skin, smiling lightly. “You’re a champion, girl. You didn’t even flinch” Louis praised her, backing away with his tray to get two medication bags. Harry was smiling lightly as well, watching the scene from the recliner behind. 

Louis came back with the two IV medication bags and hung them both in the IV pole, connecting the first one. It was just some ibuprofen mixed with some lightweight and really diluted opioids, and other things to lower her temperature a bit. The second one was nothing but plain saline to keep her hydrated since she hadn’t been eating. He attached the bags to the pole and connected them to her IV lines, finally putting the lines on the infusion pump and regulating the amount of fluid she would get from both of the bags. 

Not so long after Louis connected the IV lines to the bags, Eve started to fall asleep again. It was expectable after all. Her temperature had gotten to over forty degrees and she had no fuel in her system, so she would be more tired than normal. 

He decided to just sit down at the desk and fill in some sheets explaining the procedures that the blood tubes had to go through. He specifically insisted that the results had to come as fast as possible so if needed, he could start doing more specific procedures to Eve to find out what was wrong in real depth. 

“Hey” Louis heard from behind not a long time before he sat. 

The alpha had approached him while he was finishing naming the tubes with Eve’s blood and starting on explaining the procedures that had to be done to the last one specifically. Eve was sound asleep by then and they probably needed to talk about everything that was happening. 

“Do you mind if I ask you some questions?” Harry asked politely when Louis turned around to see him. 

“Sure, just let me finish with these and call a nurse so I can get them tested” he answered lightly, checking that the tags had all the information they required. Once he was sure they were ready to go, he pressed the call button and not so long afterwards a nurse knocked on the door. “Come in!” Louis said, trying to talk as quietly as he could, even if he knew that the medicine he was giving to Eve would keep her asleep regardless. 

“What do you need?” She said sweetly. It was a blonde, omega girl, with a lovely smile and a simple green uniform that was expecting to talk to a parent, not to a doctor, so she looked surprised at Louis when she saw him there.

“Hi, Love” Louis greeted her kindly, gesturing for her to get into the room. “I’m doctor Tomlinson, it’s so nice to meet you,” he said politely, looking at her still in shock face. She was rather new to this job, at least in the Keith Tomlinson Memorial, and she knew who the heads of it were but never actually thought of meeting them, much less when they didn’t even work in her area. 

“I’m Alaya” she introduced herself, doing a handshake with the doctor. 

“Look, Alaya, I need you to take this to the lab right now. I need these tests to be done as fast as possible. This tube has to be tested for a PTT and this one is for the number of red and white blood cells count. The specifications are in the sheets right here and I really need them to get there safe” he explained, handing the girl both of the tubes and both of the sheets explaining both of the exams. “If you could bring me the results once they’re done, I would really really appreciate it” she nodded then, grabbing firmly what was being handed. 

“Of course, but, how do I do for them to test it now? I don’t think they will until tomorrow morning at least” she said. 

“Just tell the first one you see there that I’m the one asking for it, it should work,” Louis said cheerfully and gave her a smile, which she gave back pretty fast. 

“Okay, then I’ll bring you the results once I have them. Have a good night” she said politely, backing away and exiting the room. 

“So, what was it that you wanted to ask?” Louis said, sitting beside Harry on the recliner. They both shared a worried look; green mixing with blue in the most uncertain state they had ever been. 

“I just… I need to know what your suspicions are” Harry said simply, looking down at his hands. His daughter, the light of his life was sleeping in that bed with forty degrees of temperature and he didn’t know why. He deserved an explanation. 

“Oh, that” Louis exclaimed, feeling even more uncomfortable now. “Well, it’s not easy and I want to remind you that I’m not a hundred per cent sure” he clarified before giving his verdict. “I think it’s fair of me to share with you what I think of this situation as her doctor but I’m not used to this” and now Louis was rambling. It was weird because normally he was more than sure of the words that came out of his mouth, but now that he was about to tell Harry, out of all people, that he thought his daughter was way worse than he could ever think of, he was scared. Scared of not being able to comfort Harry, to contain him since their status of close friends meant that he needed to be able to. He didn’t trust himself right now; all his self-confidence went to waste. “Uhm…” he mumbled unsurely. 

“Lou, get to the point. I’ll find out eventually” Harry insisted, and Louis gave out. 

“I… I think she might have liver failure,” Louis said slowly, not daring to look at the alpha in the eyes. He thought he wouldn’t be able to bear seeing the beautiful green change with those words. 

Harry didn’t say anything at first, he just left the words sink in and really digest them and unwrap what they meant. The silence was killing them as neither of them dared to look at the other one in the eyes. 

“Liver failure... it’s reversible, isn’t it?” He asked then, feeling hopeful when in reality, he shouldn’t. 

“Normally the liver heals itself when there’s something wrong” Louis explained, trying to feel sure of what he was saying and explain in a way that wouldn’t be that hurtful. Harry finally looked at him in the eyes, feeling curiosity for something he shouldn’t. “When hepatic failure is detected is because something went wrong and the liver isn’t able to heal itself anymore. It might take years to develop, as chronic failure does, or it can develop in a matter of weeks, even days,” Louis explained, seeing how slowly Harry’s eyes started to crystallise and how he felt the urge to let his feelings rush.

“Is it curable?” He asked, trying to compose himself. 

“It is, yes. Once you’re over it” Louis explained. “You see… when the liver doesn’t work properly, toxins start to accumulate in the blood and in the long run it can cause the failure of other organs. Luckily and if my suspicions are right, we would have avoided that” he continued, tentatively getting closer to Harry’s body to let him see that he was there for him, even physically. He wasn’t sure if that was going to help in any way but he had to try. Harry was suffering and at that moment he needed to rely emotionally on someone, and that someone was going to be him. He didn't care that omegas weren't the ones to hand off comfort, didn't care about any social norm, he just had to get Harry to his normal state again. 

“But…” Harry said, expecting it. 

“The hepatic failure is still there, and if we don’t do something it can get really bad in a matter of weeks” Louis said, finally deciding on throwing an arm over Harry’s shoulder and, much to his surprise, having Harry scooting closer to his touch. 

“Is it treatable with medication?” He asked then, feeling extremely comfortable with Louis’ touch on him. He wasn’t afraid to show himself worried, to show himself unstable, not to Louis, not to him. He was breaking apart slowly, listening to how the life of his daughter, the most precious thing he had, was at risk. 

Showing himself this way, displaying his feelings and showing his vulnerability were breaking down other walls he had put over himself all along his life, mostly since he had lost Isabella. Not because of them itself if not for the fact that he was showing his bare self to Louis. He was crystalline, completely transparent in that moment of uncertainty. One of those aforementioned walls was the one that avoided him from having meaningful physical contact with someone he felt attracted to. He had never been more comfortable hugging someone than he was now, relying on Louis. The other one was the thickest one, the one he had been built all around his heart. That one forbade him from falling in love, or at least acknowledging he was. Either way, even if he had said wall broken down, the rush of emotions he was feeling at the moment wouldn’t let him recognize it. 

“In a healthy person, it would do something. Eve has Lupus, so if we medicate her, her liver could get slightly better but, besides hurting other organs it might do nothing after all because her own cells would still be attacking it” Louis explained, feeling guiltier as each second passed by. He knew Harry had asked, but he also knew he wasn’t forced to tell his own suspicions if the parents asked. It was a choice of his but still, he found it really difficult to tell Harry no. 

“And how would it be treated then?” He asked again, asking the exact question Louis didn’t want him to ask. 

They weren’t even remotely sure of what she had, and all of this was just speculating. What was the need to get so worried if at the end it might actually be something really different? Maybe it was that Louis had lived it himself with his dad. He had been through the same problem, hepatic failure, due to the same illness and comparing symptoms and everything... it was pretty relatable. He would love Eve not to end like his father did back then, but he wasn’t actually sure if they would be that lucky. 

“By transplantation,” Louis said lowly, almost whispering, looking at how his words sunk in Harry, making his gaze fall down as the first tear opened its way through his cheek. “But let’s not get this pessimistic, okay? We don’t know yet and maybe we’re lucky and with some medication, she’s home tomorrow” Louis said, trying to cheer him up as much as possible, but not getting any results. Harry’s gaze was still down and a few more tears were running down his cheeks. It wasn't the first time Louis saw him cry, but it was tearing him just like the first time. “Hey, don’t… don’t cry Haz, everything will be okay” Louis shushed him, caressing his shoulder in a mere attempt to calm him.

“C-can I… can I have a hug?” He asked sweetly, and Louis couldn’t say no to that face of his, which was normally pretty but now, with traces of tears down his cheeks, looking its most vulnerable, was at its prettiest. He nodded then, having Harry throwing himself into his arms, hiding his face where his left shoulder and neck joined. 

“Come here,” He said simultaneously, rubbing his back as he started to sob slightly louder. Seeing him like that was absolutely heartbreaking, so vulnerable. “Everything will be okay, love,” Louis said, not thinking of the weight of his words, specifically the pet name he used, and just containing him as well as he could. “I won’t let anything happen to her, I promise” then he said, not only for Harry if not for himself as well. He would not let anything happen to that girl, and if it meant giving her half of his own liver if she needed it, even more, he would do it without thinking twice. 

Louis took the liberty of scenting the room lightly hoping that maybe a known smell and, especially an omega's, would manage the situation and calm down the alpha. And it certainly did, because Louis noticed how Harry, almost imperceptibly, nudged his nose at his scent gland. 

“Can you sleep here?” He heard the alpha murmur between sobs; sound severely muffled by having his mouth obstructed by Louis’ neck. And Louis thought he would melt at how sweet Harry sounded, seeing how beautiful he was rather than how miserable. 

“What?” And Louis had heard, had understood what the alpha had said and what it meant, but for some stupid reason, he felt the need to hear it again. 

“Can you sleep here, with me?” He repeated, much to Louis surprise.

He thought he wouldn’t be sure enough, that it had been something that had slipped out of his mouth. He smiled sweetly, looking at his green and puffy eyes that looked at him from dangerously close. If it was another moment, with them in a different place and having Louis with just a tiny bit less self-control, he would have kissed him. He wouldn’t have thought twice about doing it. His lips were so rosy and puffy, they were calling Louis’ name ever since he can remember, now a little louder. But right then Harry was so fragile, so broken. He didn’t have the heart to confuse him that way, not when he was like this. 

“Sure, just, I’ll get us a blanket” either way, Louis wasn’t planning on leaving the hospital that night, and if Harry had been so gentle to invite him to share his recliner, he wouldn’t say no. Sure, he was trying to push away as much as he could the feelings that were threatening to burst out, even if he knew that he wouldn’t be able to hold them much longer. Not when in about seconds he would have Harry sleeping by his side. 

He got up from it and walked the few steps that separated the couch from the closet, from where he took the thickest blanket he found and came back, not before turning the lights off. Harry was looking at Eve with puffy eyes, as if he couldn’t believe that they were there, at the hospital. Then he saw him and giving him the tiniest shade of a smile he moved, so Louis could have more room to lay down. Louis sat down and extended the blanket over the both of them and, before letting Harry cuddle him as he knew he would do, he reclined both parts of the sofa, so they could be as comfortable as possible. Then, Harry cuddled him as if there were no tomorrow, lying his head on Louis’ chest even. 

Louis had to inhale and exhale deeply, and although counterproductive given the effects Harry's scent had on his omega, he let him hug the life out of him. And his feelings were just crawling into a ball at the pit of his stomach, threatening to explode at any second. Making him feel sick, but loving it at the same time. It was as if a bullet and butterflies were in his stomach at the same time, as bittersweet as it could be. Everything he ever felt for Harry was being mixed with how he felt about the situation they were going through, and also with all the fate factor, being by far too much for him to handle. 

And then, all of a sudden, he wasn’t able to deny it anymore. He wasn’t able to contain, to keep under wraps whatever that was there because there wasn’t anything in need to be contained. He couldn’t keep lying to himself, and deep down in his mind, he was questioning his past decisions and thoughts. How could have he been so oblivious to his own feelings, so afraid of falling in love again that he neglected them for that long? Why did it take him so long to figure out that he was it? He liked Harry so badly that he was afraid he would fall in love, because that fear was still in there. He just knew it was enough, and it felt so good to finally assume what his heart had been screaming for years and his brain kept shutting up. 

“Thank you… for being here for me” he heard Harry say, with his voice much calmer than before and his voice not muffled by anything, nudging his neck once again. Louis smiled sincerely in the darkness of the room, feeling his heart full. That was a feeling he hadn’t felt in a very long time. 

“You don’t have to thank me, love. I’d do it as many times as you’d ask me to” he said, being completely sincere, completely transparent. He even, being led by the rush of newly released emotions, kissed the crown of his head, drowning himself on his scent. 

Harry fell asleep eventually, so did Louis. Maybe it took Louis a while longer to fall asleep but when he did, he felt as relieved as he had never felt before. Not because he had admitted to Harry that he felt something for him, he didn’t, if not because he had just done it to himself, and nothing had ever felt so good before. 


	13. Chapter XI

Whoever that entered that hospital room and saw the pair sleeping that way, wouldn't hesitate that they were mates. The language they spoke while being asleep showed them way more comfortable touching each other than how they actually felt when doing it consciously. It seemed natural.

Harry was holding tight onto Louis, head on his chest and what now looked like a birds nest but it’s normally his hair all spread over it; one of his long legs thrown over Louis’ short but curvy ones. Louis, on his side, had his arms wrapped around Harry’s torso, containing him in such an endearing way, and his head actually rested on Harry’s. They looked so comfortable, their bodies looked like they had been made to sleep with each other, like puzzle pieces, fitting perfectly. The only thing that was missing right then for someone to think they were mates was the bite. 

Louis woke up then, feeling weird as he was sleeping with someone else –obviously– and they weren’t in his bed. The blue of his eyes met the almost fully dark room, and in between shadows and gloom, he caught a glimpse of Harry’s face, buried between his chest and his own mass of messy chocolate curls. And he smiled then, remembering everything that had happened just a few hours ago, the good and the bad though. He checked the clock, wanting to make sure that it wasn’t morning already or something, and realising it was barely past two AM. 

He just rested his head back against the recliner then, raising his arm to touch the alpha’s hair sweetly, retrieving it from his face. And he felt all over again that same rush of emotions he felt when Harry laid his head on his chest for the first time. It was just so overwhelming finally accepting it, finally realising how blind he had been. 

“I’m so scared” Louis murmured; voice extremely low to avoid waking Harry and Eve up, barely hoarse because he had just woken up. He was out loudly opening up to himself, it was going to do something good to him, finally. He felt as if his heart was about to explode and it had never felt better before. “I don’t want to fuck up our friendship” he continued, caressing Harry’s hair non-stop but softly, breaking apart the knots on it as he did with the ones in his own mind as well. “But sometimes I just want to kiss you so badly” he was just being sincere, truth and fair to himself, recognising all his impulses. Harry meant so much to him, so much he could understand and give a reason to, and so much that was completely unknown, wild. “It’s your fault you’re so lovable,” he said then, smiling softly as he pulled out enough hair to catch a glimpse of Harry sleeping, with his mouth open a little and snoring quietly. “I’m afraid I might be making all this up in my mind and realising someday that it was only me” he kept talking to no one but his lonely self, still trying to get a hold of what was going on inside his heart, inside his head. “But to be fair, I think you're it. I had that revelation and I don't think I misunderstood it. You finally made it to my head” and heart. The thought slipped in his mind, but he kept it in, thinking it was too soon and it would be too much for him to handle if he acknowledged it then. “You’re so fucking beautiful. You can’t begin to understand how much I miss your dimples” he said, smiling at the thought of Harry laughing his heart out, letting those dimples appear just beside the corners of his mouth. "And your scent is the best thing I have ever smelled in my life" he inhaled deeply then, confirming what he had just said. “I know this is the shittiest moment to realise that I can't keep doing this to myself but I… I just couldn’t keep it in any longer, and I’m so glad I opened up” he kept caressing his hair, getting his hand closer to his cheek and caressing the soft skin there instead of his messy curls. “I have yet to open up about this to you. I guess I will eventually, but not now” it wasn’t the moment. Eve was sick, Harry was emotionally unstable. Things were just too raw, it was too premature to consider doing such a thing. He sighed then, slightly frustrated at the situation. “It’ll feel so good for me to feel like kissing you and not having to feel bad because of it” He kept touching Harry’s skin with the lightest touch, treating him as if he were the most delicate piece of art in the world. And somehow he was. “Please, don’t break my heart,” he said then, recognising how weak it had made him feel. He was vulnerable, he felt that way, so under control of him. 

And then Harry shifted on top of him, accommodating his head on Louis’ chest and hugging him even tighter. And Louis thought he was given the chance to breathe again after thinking that Harry had heard the strong confession he had just done to himself, thanking the gods above he was still sleeping. 

He decided he was going to go back to sleep, not wanting to keep talking just in case Harry actually woke up and he embarrassed himself right in front of him. But a light knock on the door was heard and Louis remembered he was waiting for the blood tests results and everything. So carefully and as quickly as he possibly could, he sat up, having Harry shifting again, not wanting to let him go. He sighed, not wanting to leave the recliner, much less leave Harry sleeping on his own, but after struggling a bit and when he felt free enough, he just stood up, being careful to leave Harry’s head in the most comfortable position possible. 

He saw Harry sigh and frown, crossing his arms over his chest and he smiled endeared, getting drunk in emotion. Then he remembered the knock on the door, and shaking his head he walked towards it, opening it without asking who it was. Luckily, instead of letting the person in, he went outside.

“Alaya, hi!” He greeted the blonde nurse, keeping a yawn to himself so he didn’t seem disrespectful. Honestly, he looked as if he had just woken up, it was undeniable. “Have you got the results?” He asked then, settling his not so excited professional face. 

“I do,” she stated, looking at Louis weirdly since she was expecting to meet the patient’s father, not her doctor. She wanted to ask if Louis had slept there so badly but she knew it was none of her business whatever thing the doctor was doing in the room. “Haven’t looked at them” she said, smiling slightly and handing Louis the caqui coloured envelope with Eve’s name and information written on it. 

“Thank you so much, Alaya” Louis thanked her, giving her a tight smile that, if they weren’t in the situation they were would have been a full-on smile with eye crinkles and everything. But he had Eve’s blood tests results in his hands and he wouldn’t be able to smile sincerely until he saw them. 

“You’re welcome doctor Tomlinson,” she said politely, extending Louis a hand to do a handshake which they did, and she walked away afterwards. 

Louis entered the room again, switching on the lights on the room at their minimum so he could see but not bother the two that were sleeping, feeling the pressure of the words written in those papers he hadn’t read yet. The first thing he saw was that Harry was still sound asleep. The blanket was all rolled up upon Harry’s middle and he was still sleeping with a frown on his face, making Louis smile despite the situation. He left the envelope on the surface of the desk and walked towards the recliner, grabbing the rolled-up blanket once he got there and extending it correctly over Harry. He even left a kiss on Harry’s forehead before directing himself towards Eve’s bed. Both of the IV bags were empty now, and Eve was as sound asleep as her father was. So he slowly unlatched the long line from the IV line on both of her arms and threw the empty bags away, kissing her forehead just as he had done to Harry after he finished. 

With trembling hands he grabbed the envelope, finally deciding on making some time to read it carefully. If there was something wrong, they would have to keep testing to get an even more accurate diagnosis to finally determine the treatment they were going to give to her. He couldn’t afford the time he was taking to adjust himself to the possible outcomes of everything. He sighed then, sitting on the empty spot on the recliner, just beside Harry, and decided to open finally that envelope, to be brave. 

But Harry’s head, nuzzling against Louis warmth was what distracted him from doing so. Harry had awoken and moved closer, having his head against Louis's shoulder.

“Hey,” He said with his voice deep, way more than usual. A shiver ran down Louis's spine when he heard him.

“Hey, Lo… Haz” and the word ‘Love’ almost slipped out of his lips and thoughts. He wanted to slap himself for that. Being free of feeling the way he wanted towards the alpha didn’t give him the right to go and call him pet names everywhere. “Go back to sleep if you want,” Louis said, caressing his hair slightly as he felt how Harry was trying to get even closer, to the point that it was getting physically impossible. Harry shook his head, sliding one arm behind the omega's back to tug him as close as possible. He was being extremely clingy, and it wasn't like Louis was bothered by it.

“No…” he murmured, still too confused to speak full sentences, just wanting to cuddle with Louis and let time pass by before their eyes, submerged into a bubble of their own where nothing could hurt them. 

“How long have you been awake?” Louis asked, resting his back against the backrest, letting Harry get into a position similar to the one they had before Louis woke up. He placed his head on Louis's chest and Louis's hand went to his curls right away, comforting the youngest. 

“Not much…” he said, nuzzling his head further into Louis' neck, shamelessly sniffing his sweet scent from its source. “What’s that?” He asked then, noticing the envelope and wanting to grab it. 

“These are the results of the blood tests. Haven’t read them yet” he said, letting the atmosphere get thicker around them as the meaning of Louis words sunk in a barely woken up Harry. 

“Oh…” he murmured a while later, looking up at the blue of Louis’ eyes as if re were looking for reassurance. Louis smiled tightly, manipulating the envelope with just one hand since the other one was too busy comforting Harry. It took him some time but he was finally able to open the envelope, from which he took two sheets of paper. 

And then he read them. He decided to start first with the one for the anaemia and found himself pretty surprised when he saw that Eve’s amount of red and white blood cells was higher than he expected them to be. He smiled, feeling slightly better but feeling how Harry was getting tenser as time and silence went by. Leaving aside the sheet he had read, he proceeded to grab the other one, the one that was actually terrifying. 

He read it then. Once. Twice. Even three times and just when he was about to read it for the fourth time was that the facts sunk in. Eve was, in fact, way worse than he ever thought. The blood in her veins was highly contaminated by toxins that her liver wasn’t being able to synthesize since who knows when. The tests had just confirmed her hepatic failure. 

“Lou…” Harry murmured, seeing Louis’ countenance change as he read the results and the information sunk in. “Lou… say something” he asked, sitting up straight and trying to get the omega's blue eyes to meet his. 

And once he could, he wished he would have never done so. They were crystalline, filled with worry and anticipation. That only worsened how Harry felt; that look told him everything he needed to know. 

The omega shook his head then, looking down back to the test results and trying to find something positive on them, not finding anything really. 

“It…” Louis started, thinking it was selfish of him not to tell Harry about the situation, making him feel even worse. “It’s… it’s hepatic failure, it’s confirmed” Louis murmured, thinking that if he talked low maybe it meant less. How wrong he was. 

Eve meant so much to him, to them. He felt as if he were a close relative, maybe an uncle, or her dad’s best friend, someone close, and as much as this news was destroying Harry, they were destroying him, almost equally. 

The room fell into silence after that; eyes not daring to look at each other. It was just so harsh, so unfair that these things were happening to them. It was as if life was searching for revenge with two people that had nothing to do with it, that tried to live their lives as humbly and lovingly as possible, and it still was falling over them. They had just woken up but already felt the tiredness, the wear the situation was giving them. And it was going to get worse, both of them knew that. 

It took them almost fifteen minutes to get used to the idea; Harry took some more time if possible. It was just so unbelievable. Two days prior they were living their best lives and now they were being told that Eve was as sick as she had never been and that it was actually threatening her life. It just wasn’t fair, neither of them deserved what life was giving them. 

“What…” Harry said eventually, making Louis’ gaze flick upwards almost immediately. The silence had been so thick, so difficult to break, that once it was broken, every little whisper could be heard as screaming. “What are we going to do?” Harry looked at Louis in the eyes and saw how deep he was broken. And he had never been so thankful to have someone like him in their lives, had never been so thankful to have someone that understood what he was feeling and was going to be strong for him when he couldn’t be enough for himself, regardless of gender tags. 

Silence was creeping in again, threatening to leave them submerged in its thickness again, but Louis didn’t let it, speaking up before so. 

“For now… For now, we’re going to run more tests” Louis explained, looking up to Harry’s eyes, which were watering under the sight of the blue ones. “I would suggest you to… to expect a transplant” Louis said afterwards, taking so low he thought that maybe Harry hadn’t heard him. 

But he did, and the humidity eyes grew even bigger, letting the first tear of many slides down his left cheek. But Louis was quick to catch it with his thumb, caressing Harry’s cheeks as the youngest left more tears to run freely through his cheeks, not even daring to look up at the blue of Louis’ eyes. “Hey, don’t cry, everything's gonna be okay,” Louis said when he saw Harry crying, getting closer so he could give him that physical comfort he knew made him feel better in situations like this. 

“How do you know that?” Harry asked, voice broken from having cried before and the fact that he was crying now. Louis was broken as well, so broken he thought he could see his own heart shattered in a thousand pieces, but Harry had that thing that made him want to be strong, and he was going to be strong and beside him as much as he needed him to. He swore. 

“Because I won’t let anything happen to her,” he said as sure as he had never been, shifting his look between both of Harry’s eyes, seeing that sad and broken green. “Neither will I ever let something hurt you,” He said then, seeing how Harry dropped his gaze to his lap, crying hard. “Come here,” Louis said then, opening his arms for Harry to throw himself into. And be sure he did. He collapsed into Louis arms, hiding his face where Louis neck met his left shoulder and cried loudly, being embraced by the only arms on earth that, at the day of the date, could contain him and make him feel as safe as he had never felt before, even if the most valued thing he had in life was being threatened. “Cry, love. Just cry. It’ll be better later, I promise” Louis soothes him, scenting the room slightly and caressing his back as Harry hiccuped. He was hidden between his arms and crying his lungs out, incredibly frightened at the thought of losing his baby. 

“You promise?” Harry murmured, asking for reassurance. Normally he would be sure that Louis would always be there, but in that moment of vulnerability, he just needed to be told so, needed to be held. 

“I do, Haz. We’ll be fine, we’ll get over this” Louis said, hugging Harry tighter and letting some time go by so he could stop crying by himself. 

And it took him about twenty minutes. Twenty minutes of caresses on the back and hair and reassuring words that, besides comforting Harry, reassured Louis’ feelings on his inside, even if now he had gone back to try and ignore them. Not because he was ashamed of them if not for the sake of the situation and Harry’s vulnerability. It wasn’t fair for him, and he wanted Harry to feel as good as he possibly could. 

“Okay?” He asked a while later, hoping for Harry to give some kind of an answer. There had been about five minutes of no sobbing, so Louis thought that maybe Harry had calmed down. He felt him nod, and then his body unlatched from the hug they had been sharing for that long while, letting Louis see his red and swollen green eyes. “Everything will be okay, Haz,” he said, cleaning the last tear that slides down his cheek, having the tiniest bit of a smile as a reward. “There you are” he smiled back once he saw said attempt of a smile, sliding his hand down through Harry’s arm until it reached his hand, much bigger than his own. 

“Thank you, Lou. For everything” Harry said, looking straight into Louis’ hand, which was grabbing his own and caressing it with his thumb. 

“You’re welcome, love,” he said smiling slightly, giving a final tug to Harry’s hand before releasing it. His heart had been pounding inside his chest for so long then and just then he realised, feeling as a consequence how a rosy blush crept its way up through his neck. “Now, I know it’s a tight and emotional moment, but to have more possibilities for a better outcome we need to get moving now” Louis started, showing himself determined to save that little wolf. 

“Sure” Harry murmured, sitting straight in the recliner and wiping away the remaining of the tears that had just run through practically his whole face. “But what can we do at two-forty in the morning?” Harry asked, feeling slightly confused at the time they were going to be testing to get Eve a better diagnosis. 

“Oh darling, we can do a lot of things,” Louis said cheerfully, getting up from the recliner and walking towards the tray that was still there with other IV bags with different and commonly used medicines for admission purposes. He grabbed one that was basically a light sedative and hung it up in the IV pole. He connected the long line with the IV line and opened the drop chamber so te medication would start to get into Eve’s bloodstream. 

“What’s that?” Harry asked, getting up as well and following over Louis’ steps. Louis looked back as he finished adjusting the IV bag and answered. 

“It’s a sedative. I’ll keep her asleep for a while. She needs to rest and she’ll wake up if we take her out of the room with no medication” he explained, fixing the last things before walking away towards the desk, pressing the call button and grabbing the telephone simultaneously. He dialled the code for the ultrasound area of the hospital and was greeted by a manly voice at the other side of the line. It took him close to two minutes to schedule the ultrasound but luckily enough the ward was empty. Besides, he knew his friend Emanuel was on call and he would meet them there to discuss the results since he was used to dealing with liver failure. 

Just as he hung up on the technician, he heard a knock on the door followed by the blonde head of Alaya peeking through it. 

“Someone called?” She asked, getting properly inside and looking both at Harry and then at Louis who, to her, didn’t seem to leave that room at all. She smiled then at the sight of the little girl sleeping on the bed and smiled even further when she was hit by the smell of such scents combined. It smelled heavenly in there. 

“Yes. Hi, again Alaya” Louis greeted her, walking towards her. “I need you to bring me a transfer bed, please,” Louis asked, looking at her sweetly. 

“Of course, something else?” She asked politely, looking with a smile at how Harry caressed his daughter’s features, completely endeared. 

“If you could replace these trays with new supplies I would be really thankful” he added, directing himself towards the desk again to grab the phone once again. 

“Of course. I’ll be here in a couple of minutes with the bed” she said before leaving the three of them alone in the room and returning back within no more than three minutes, pushing a transfer bed. 

“Hello” Harry greeted her politely and stood aside so she could get the transfer bed into the room. 

“Hi, again,” She said back, paying attention to what she was doing instead of Harry. “Dr Tomlinson, here’s the bed. Do you want me to get some backpackers?” She offered, leaving the bed stationed right beside Eve’s bed. 

“No, thanks. It’s not necessary” he said, giving her a small smile. “Though I need to ask you a question,” he said. 

“Go ahead” 

“Would you please be Eve’s default nurse? I would need all the night shifts” he asked, resting onto the surface of Eve’s bed. “I’ve been doing all the nurse job since I admitted her and I need a truthful nurse to do it from now on, so I can worry about other things” he explained. “I already started both of her IV’s and she’s had some medication for her fever, some saline solution and now she’s having a sedative. I’ll write a report about it later so you can have it” 

“Sure, I just need to check how many patients I have, but I don't think there'll be a problem,” she said, trying to remember right then how many she had. 

“No. Actually, I would like you to be available just for Eve, no other patients” he explained. He thought Eve’s condition was pretty bad, and the more attention she got the better. 

“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” she said, fearing that maybe her salary would be affected or something if she did what she was being asked to. 

“If it’s for the money, don’t worry. I can even double your salary. I just trust you somehow and I need someone to watch over her when I can’t. She’s really important for me” Alaya nodded then, feeling quite happy about the increase her money intake would have. 

“Sure then. I can cover the night shifts for her” she said quite content, looking at how the little girl was sleeping peacefully. “You will have to find someone for the morning and afternoon shifts, though” she added. 

“I'm taking care of it when morning arrives” he explained, smiling softly to avoid seeming harsh or anything.

“Okay then” she smiled brightly. “Do you need anything else?” She asked, looking again at who was now he only patient. 

“No, but thank you very much. You can go” she nodded, giving both of the wolves in the room a bright smile and leaving the room as she walked towards the nurses' area. 

“Now, how are we going to put her there without help?” Harry asked, eyeing the bed and the transfer one, thinking about the IV lines Eve had as well that wouldn’t make that move as easy as Louis may have thought it was. 

“Just hold her from under her legs and shoulders and place her on the transfer bed. I’ll move the IV pole” Louis instructed, walking towards said pole and moving it slowly, being careful not to pull from the IV line and hurt Eve. 

“You’re sure she won’t wake up?” Harry asked, not being sure of what they were doing exactly. 

“She’s sedated. She won’t probably” Louis explained. “Maybe she does but most likely she won’t” he added, being sincere about the situation. “Now, hold her and walk towards the end of the bed if you can,” Louis asked, making sure the IV pump was still under the values he had put earlier when he changed the bags. 

Once Louis saw Harry lift the bed sheets and hold Eve carefully, he nodded softly so he knew he had to walk towards the end of the bed. So did he, so the IV line would be as loose as possible. Once both of them were on the same side of the bed, Harry placed Eve carefully on the transfer bed, looking with the shade of a smile at how his daughter just kept sleeping as if nothing had happened. 

“Grab that blanket if you can. It can be cold outside” Harry nodded at the instructions and went to the recliner so he could grab the blanket he and Louis slept with earlier that night, accommodating it neatly over his daughter’s lap. She grabbed tight onto the blanket, bringing it up to her nose and sniffing it, relaxing immediately at the scent of it. 

“Do we need anything else?” Harry asked, standing right beside Louis. 

“I’ll go grab the test results and we can go” Harry nodded and Louis finally rushed to the wooden desk to grab both of the test sheets and their respective envelopes so they could leave the room and get on with the ultrasound. 

He met Harry afterwards and they headed to the hallways of the hospital; Harry pushing the bed while Louis carried the IV pole beside it. It took them a while and a few elevator rides to get there but they did eventually, meeting a man in his late forties or early fifties who was standing in front of the x-ray and ultrasound double door. 

“Emanuel, hello!” Louis greeted him, and he even hugged him, patting his back in a manly way that really didn’t suit him. 

“Louis!” He greeted him back, responding to the hug with a slightly stronger pat on Louis’ back. “So good to see you” Emanuel was an alpha that had always treated Louis so dearly. He was a family friend and had been there for all the Tomlinson children, they all loved him. 

“The same I say,” Louis said politely, offering him a small smile. “Well, let me introduce you. Emanuel, she’s our patient. Her name is Eve Styles; five years old, I’ll send you a copy of her chart later,” he introduced Emanuel to the sleeping girl. “And Harry, this is doctor Emanuel Richardson, he will take care over Eve’s liver failure. Emanuel, this is Harry, Eve’s father” both men did a short handshake, properly meeting. 

“It’s nice to meet you, sir,” Harry said politely while doing the handshake, having Emanuel smile at him. 

“Mate, just call me Emanuel. Something tells me we’ll have quite a bit of time to get confident around each other” and certainly the younger alpha did not like what he heard.

“Okay,” He said dryly, getting unconsciously closer to Louis as he felt threatened. 

“Well,” Louis could feel the tension and Emanuel certainly understood that was not the right thing to say if he wanted to seem friendly. “Let’s go inside so we can do this ultrasound and see if we can get a proper diagnose,” he said slightly cheerful, noticing Harry’s sudden closeness. 

The three of them walked inside both of the doors, facing a really large and wide hallway with a few doors and offices. The doors inside were as wide as the entrance glass door was but these were made of wooden, with a square window at sight height. They walked past the x-ray one, the MRI one and finally got to the ultrasound one, facing a pretty big and empty waiting room. They walked past it and going into once again a pretty wide corridor which was full of small blocks divided by navy blue curtains and had numbers on them to differentiate them. Louis guided the men towards the only one that had its curtain open, the block number four and met a young red-haired girl that was sitting on a desk and a young guy as well that was sitting in front of the ultrasound machine and starting it. 

“Excuse me,” he said, clearing his voice pretty lousily. The guy looked behind his shoulder and met the three men standing at the hallway with the transfer bed. “I’m doctor Tomlinson, I asked for this ultrasound. This is doctor Richardson, a hepatologist that will take over the case and this is Harry Styles, father of the patient” he introduced himself and his company to the young guy, who was not so discreetly checking Harry out. Of course, needy omegas. 

“Nice to meet you,” He said with a small smirk, getting straight into Louis’ nerves. He had just decided he didn’t like that guy at all. “I’ll get this bed out of the way so you can place yours,” he said, standing up from his chair and standing beside the transfer bed that was in the middle of the box, making some space to put Eve’s bed where the empty one was before. Louis pushed the bed and IV pole carefully, placing them strategically so when they had to leave it wouldn’t be so hard to take the bed out. 

The guy sat back on his chair again, facing the ultrasound machine and finally unlatching his eyes from Harry’s body. Louis wanted to murmur a ‘Finally’ but he thought it was a pretty childish thing to do so he just opted to keep quiet about it. 

“I’m Oliver, it’s so nice to meet you all. She’s Stephanie, she takes notes of the ultrasounds and makes the reports” he finally introduced himself and his partner, looking behind his shoulder to catch Harry’s sight once again. The subconscious part of Louis, the part that still hadn’t realised he had finally admitted his feelings towards the youngest man was trying to convince him that he was irritated just because it was neither the moment or the place to flirt with someone, but he desisted once he could admit to himself that he was getting slightly jealous. 

After he introduced himself, Oliver grabbed the bottle of gel and the standard scan, turning to his left so he would be facing Eve. 

“I’m gonna need you to lift her gown, if possible” he said, directing said message towards no one in particular. Louis, who was the one that was the closest to the bed, lifted her gown but made sure to leave her lower body still covered by the blanket since she only had her underwear on underneath it. “Thank you,” Oliver said with a slightly annoyed tone. 

He proceeded to put a generous amount of gel on the upper part of her abdomen, specifically on the right side and distributed it with the transductor, letting a blurry image show in the screen that neither Harry or Louis understood what meant. Emanuel, on his side, got even closer to the screen, trying to figure out what was happening in that liver. 

No one talked for a while, the only sound that filled the room being the one of the ultrasound machine, translating movement into noises and black and white images. 

“Oh yes, that’s definitely liver failure,” doctor Richardson said and Louis felt Harry get tense right beside him. He wanted to do something for him so bad but he didn’t know what. “Abnormal inflammation found on right posterior and right anterior sections,” Emanuel said and all of them heard Stephanie type that on her computer. Then, Oliver pressed harder into that section, giving them a clear look of the liver blood vessels. “Small blood clots obstructing blood vessels on said sections” he informed so Stephanie could write it down. 

For Louis, this was worse than finding out she had liver failure. It was so terrifying knowing exactly what was making her suffer and not knowing what to do io solve the problem. 

“Could you move to the left side?” Emanuel asked Oliver so he could examine the left side of the liver and see if it was just that part or if it was all the organ. “Left middle and lateral section are inflamed as well” he added, looking cautiously to the images shown on the screen. 

And then, somehow consciously but unconsciously Louis slides his rather small hand into Harry’s bigger one, entwining their fingers tightly, giving it a squeeze in a gesture of support. He hid their hands behind the bed so no one would ask, but he wasn’t quick enough because Oliver caught a glimpse of said gesture and immediately put a not so pleased expression on his face. Louis wanted to laugh at that, but right then it wasn’t the moment, neither did he feel like laughing was going to be enough. Instead, he caressed Harry’s hand with his thumb, making the aforementioned gaze down to their joined hands. 

Everything was just a huge mixture of feelings inside their stomachs, but it was the worst in Louis’. He felt the fear and anxiety that Eve’s illness was causing in practically everyone but he felt it mixed with the feeling of Harry’s hand entwined with his, releasing tons of butterflies into his stomach and making him want to hug him and kiss him so badly. He felt as if he were going to puke. 

“What’s the size of it?” Richardson asked, but Louis and Harry were lost in a mixture of what they were feeling and what they were being told, being both of them equally overwhelming. 

The ultrasound went on for about twenty more minutes, where Emanuel asked for measurements and searched for facts that could give him better chances at nailing the diagnosis. Louis and Harry lost it halfway in, too affected by what they had already heard to keep hearing more and too lost in the comfortable touch of the other to pay attention to such horrible news. 

Eventually, the ultrasound machine was shut down and the report was printed, letting Louis and Emanuel have a word about what Eve’s liver looked like, and it was so terrifying. 

“Just say it, Emanuel. What’s the diagnose?” Louis said, wanting to get rid of the suspense better earlier than later, but holding tightly onto Harry’s hand, thinking that maybe the fall was going to be less rough if he kept physically holding him. And if he felt that way, Harry felt worse, shown by how tight he was grabbing Louis hand, fearing that if he loosened it up he would lose the only ounce of stability he had. 

“That’s definitely an acute liver failure,” Emanuel said bluntly, looking at their joined hands and giving them a look full of pity. “I’m sorry” he apologised then as if he were the one to blame instead of lupus. 

“Shit” Louis murmured, trying to hold back the tears because, in those twenty minutes, even when he knew it was liver failure, he didn’t know how bad it was, and maybe that last bit of hope he was holding onto was going to let that acute liver failure be treatable with medication. But he had read the report, he had seen the images, and it wasn’t as treatable as his bit of hope thought it would be. Now that it was confirmed it was just as if an ice water bucket was thrown all over himself, letting a cold and sharp shiver run throughout his whole body. “How… what do you suggest to treat it?” Louis tried to ask them, letting that question leave his mouth in a barely audible volume. 

“I… we know that lupus it’s causing this, so I don’t see the need to keep testing. An MRI wouldn’t hurt though” he suggested then, trying to somehow delay the truth and the real situation. “But I… I would suggest singing Eve up to the waiting list for liver transplantation” and then their worlds finally finished their falling-apart process. It was confirmed now. She needed it. 

“But waiting lists can take up to two years” Louis objected, knowing for a fact that Eve wouldn’t be strong enough to bear with liver failure for two years or even more until she got a liver to be transplanted. 

“It’s the only possible solution I see” Emanuel responded, looking at them with grief. “Her liver is too damaged to heal and or work on its own. Medication could help but, sooner or later, rather sooner, she will need it” he added while being handled the recently primed ultrasound report with the required pictures of it as well. 

“What are we going to do?” It was the first time they all heard Harry talk, and Louis felt so sick suddenly. The worst thing was that the question was directed towards him, and for the first time, Louis didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t bear hearing Harry in so much pain, he was just so transparent. “Can I donate her my liver?” Harry asked, surprising Louis. Their hands were holding on so tightly that they could lose blood circulation completely and they wouldn’t notice. Right then the other one was the only thing they had to hold on to and be sure they would. 

“If you’re a match you could” Emanuel answered, and Harry’s face immediately lit up, but then it’s light faded away almost instantly. “Healthy livers have the capacity of healing and regenerating themselves completely in between four to twelve weeks. If you donate one part of your liver, both of you could grow a fully functional and complete liver out of it in between said time” Emanuel explained, and even if Harry’s face was still hopeless, it looked a tiny bit better than before. There was an alternative, they just would have to find a match because Harry himself knew he wouldn’t be one. 

“How’s the test done?” Harry asked then, wanting to have answers to a matter he wasn’t even sure he would be able to fix, but holding onto hope was the last resource he had. 

“Basically candidates’ blood is compared with the recipient’s blood and they have to go through a bunch of tests. If they test negative on one of them they are discarded until we get the matches” Emanuel explained, trying to talk about it as easily as possible. Harry didn’t know anything about medicine or labs, he was just trying to explain the way Harry would understand the most. “Of course, it’s recommended to do the transplantation with the closest match possible if many different ones come out” he added, and Harry just answered with a nod. 

“We’ll start testing tomorrow morning, okay Haz?” Louis intervened because he knew Harry would even get his blood drawn out right there to get the test done. He just knew. He knew as well that he would refuse, but much to his surprise, Harry nodded in agreement. “Thank you so much for your help, Emanuel. I’ll call you tomorrow morning and tell you whatever we decide on doing” Emanuel smiled lightly and glanced over their jointed hands once again before turning around to read the report more in-depth. No one actually stopped and thought about the "We' that slipped out of Louis’ mouth. “Come on, Haz,” Louis said, pulling from Harry’s hand so he could get him moving. They needed to get the bed out of the block, and thanks to Louis putting it strategically before the ultrasound now it wouldn’t be that difficult. He handed Harry the IV pole, finally releasing his hand and he pulled from the bed to get it out of there. “Thank you all,” he said before leaving, even if he hadn’t liked everyone’s attention. 

And then Harry and Louis walked alone and in silence through the aisles of the hospital; Harry just following Louis around as if he were a dead weight. The silence was so tense, so uncomfortable. Louis couldn’t stop thinking about what would happen to little Eve from then on, the surgery, the waiting list. He had to do something, he just couldn’t let her suffer from this disease without doing anything about it. Sadly and not conveniently at all, being almost the head of the hospital wasn’t enough to allow him to manipulate waiting lists, but if he could he was sure that would be the first thing he’d do. But for now, the only thing he had to offer was testing himself with all the candidates Harry managed to find. 

Thinking about that was stepping out really far from his comfort zone. He was really considering donating half of his own liver or even more to a patient. It was in fact something really big that meant stopping for a while and really thinking about it in depth. It was just that no one had ever meant for him as much as Eve and Harry did, and it was so difficult to see them struggle with her condition. If he could he would do anything to save her as soon as possible and he wouldn’t think twice before agreeing. That’s how gone he was for him, for them actually. 

“I’m testing myself” Louis commented, letting what was just a strong and unerasable thought in his mind settle in his mouth and then, in Harry’s head. Said statement brought Harry back from wherever he had gone, making him gasp once he was able to decode it.

“You what?” He asked, having heard before what Louis had said but finding it difficult to process and understand what it meant. “You are doing what?” He asked again, not believing what he was hearing. He knew Louis was a sweetheart, but he never thought his kindness would be of such magnitude. He never thought that Louis would be willing to donate a part of himself to a patient if he was the match needed. 

“You heard me, I’m testing myself. I’ll see if I’m a match” Louis said stubbornly. He knew Harry would start an argument about it, he knew him, so he would have to be the most stubborn he’s ever been in his life so he would get what he wanted. 

“No, you won’t” that was what Harry managed to get out of his mouth at Louis’ statement. “I won’t let you give my daughter part of your liver, that’s way too much” he was able to say after a while of processing the meaning of the words Louis had said. 

“I probably won't be a match. You’re most likely to be the one. It’s just to be sure” Louis replied, getting them both, him and Harry in the corridor of the step-down unit or ICU2, which was how some people called it sometimes. 

“Either way, that’s asking for too much” Harry insisted, pushing open the door of Eve’s room once they got there. The atmosphere was really tense since neither of them wanted to talk about this. 

Louis pulled Eve’s transfer bed inside her room and stationed it right beside her bed, pulling the sheets back so Harry could place Eve easily on the bed and let her rest for what was left of that night. Being past three in the morning it was expectable that she would need to rest and so would they. 

Harry lifted Eve without asking for permission and carefully placed her on her bed, not having to worry about tangling the IV line or something because the IV pole was on the same side as he was now. Finally, once Eve was settled on her bed, Harry walked towards Louis to finish the conversation they were having before, but Louis sort of avoided him walking towards the IV pump and turning it off, removing the empty bag that once had the sedative. 

“Are you ignoring me?” Harry asked, straight and forward, once he saw that Louis made himself busy organising the IV bags and all the stuff in the trays, which was pretty stupid actually because Alaya had left all the medication organised pretty neatly on the metal trays. 

“I’m not, why would you think so?” Louis said, still giving his back to Harry and refusing to make eye contact. He was being a child, both of them could recognise it. 

“Louis,” Harry said with a not so friendly, nor amused voice tone. Louis turned around and looked at him, and he was just so beautiful that he felt how his stomach gave a turn as well. He was mad, well, maybe not mad but he wasn’t happy, and he was just so expressive that Louis couldn’t handle it. He felt this urge to submit creeping up from his insides, his omega, so eager to succumb before the alpha. 

“Look, I just want to help, okay? You’re not asking me to test myself, I’m willingly deciding on testing myself. I choose to do this” Louis snapped, walking towards Harry and confronting him from a rather short distance, having to look up to meet his eyes because of the height difference. And just as the urge to submit came in, it went back. 

“You’re already helping us so much” Harry complained, stepping even closer, close enough that they weren’t touching but could begin to feel the other’s warmth. That closeness was tempting them so bad. “I don’t even know how I’m gonna do to pay you for this and you are even willing to test yourself and give a part of your body to save my daughter in case you can? Excuse me but I can’t accept that” Harry added, wanting to remove a stubborn piece of hair that fell on Louis's face so badly but containing himself. He just couldn’t control his actions sometimes, and it was whenever he was around him. 

“Harry, If you just knew what the both of you mean to me…” he tried to say that as low as possible since he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep it for himself, but even if it was low, the shifting of his eyes between Harry’s and the physical closeness they had made it impossible for Harry not to hear. “I… I need to do this, I need to know that at least I tried” Louis insisted, trying to somehow manipulate him into letting him test himself. He trusted his stubbornness and he knew than sooner or later he would achieve what he wanted, but he never thought that Harry would refuse that much. 

“Still… I… it doesn’t feel right having you doing that” Harry said, that not being enough to stop Louis from insisting. “I don’t think it’s fair” he added. 

“Why don’t you? It’s just testing. I’m positive I won’t be a match” Louis insisted, alternating his glance between Harry’s eyes, not being able to decide which one was prettier. 

“Why? Why are you insisting so much?” Harry asked, trying to get to the root of the problem and finding out what was that pushed Louis to offer something as big as a part of himself. They knew that they were talking about just testing, but if he was a match then Harry knew he would do even the impossible to donate. 

“Because I love her!” And Louis almost said ‘you’ instead of ‘her’. Of course, he loved them both, but not the same way, and he wasn’t even sure whether what he felt for Harry was love or not, he felt like he needed to give it some time to develop, but it definitely had the potential. “And I really care about her” he added, leaving the shouting aside and trying to talk softer. “So do I care about you” and that was the softest he had ever talked before. “And I want you both to be safe and happy” and then Harry’s eyes started to shine brighter than usual and, as Louis’ were just before, started to shift their glance between Louis’ eyes, trying to choose the prettiest one out of them. 

“You are something else, Lou” and that was so soft and low that Louis was trying to figure out whether he had heard or imagined that. 

They stayed like that, standing close to each other, enough to feel their body warmth but not enough to actually touch. There were so many words and things they wanted to say, on both sides, but it wasn’t the moment to talk about them. 

“Let’s do this. What’s her blood type?” Louis asked then, with the idea of offering a deal, popping that bubble that had, for a few seconds, pushed away the tension that the topic they were discussing carried within. 

“What do you want that for?” Harry asked back, not giving Louis the answer he wanted. Louis sighed, trying to keep his composure and avoid snapping at him once again. 

“If Eve and I are the same blood type, or if she’s AB positive, I’ll test myself. If not, then I won’t” he said simply, trying to smile but failing miserably. He just couldn’t manage his face to paint on a smile when the situation was that bad and they had just been on as tough of an argument as they had. 

“She’s B positive, happy now?” Harry said, clearly not happy with having to deal with his stubborn friend. Louis was just so difficult whenever he started to argue, and Harry couldn’t do anything but secretly love that. 

“Well, that’s bad news for you because I’m in fact B positive so I’m testing myself tomorrow together with you and whoever you find to test as well” Harry opened his mouth wide open since he was expecting Louis to be of any other one of the seven remaining blood types that existed but no, he had to be just Eve’s. 

“You’re kidding,” Harry said, not believing his luck. He knew that if he was stubborn, Louis was even more, so, from that moment he just knew there wasn’t going to be any possible way to change his mind. 

“I’m not, I am in fact B positive” Louis claimed, finally getting to release the tiniest shadow of a smile from his thin lips. He just lived to see Harry frustrated, it was lovely. 

“What can I do to make you change your mind?” He said then, playing his last card. He didn’t want to put himself under the pressure of having Louis tested for a match. Louis had done everything for them ever since Eve was diagnosed with Lupus. He paid for all her treatments, and they hadn’t even begun to talk about expenses and money. It was really frustrating. 

“Probably nothing” Louis answered, shrugging slightly and stepping even closer, letting his impulses take over himself and grabbing Harry’s hand in between his own. Harry’s eyes immediately looked down at their touching hands and felt how Louis stroked his softly with his thumb, in soothing circles. “I want to do this” Louis said, making Harry’s eyes fly back to his; hands still holding onto the other one. “And I will, and if I’m a match, which I don’t think so, well… time will tell” he smiled softly but tightly, having Harry giving him the tiniest smile ever. “She’ll be okay” he reassured him then, not being sure himself of his own statement but at least he could comfort Harry somehow. 

They didn’t say much after that. It wasn’t as if Harry had anything to say against Louis’ decision that he hadn’t said already, and now he knew that changing his mind would be impossible. So, after sharing a couple of looks and doubting about it for a while, they decided to share the recliner once again, having Harry completely wrapped around Louis’ torso and, with joined hands, they left themselves sleep very comfortably but still overwhelmed by everything that liver transplantation would mean. 


	14. Chapter XII

Waking up the way Harry had just done was the only thing that made the situation he was in slightly better. Opening his eyes at the sun rays of early morning with his head resting on Louis' chest was so soothing, calm. And even if he was surrounded by fear, anxiety and every bad feeling that having his daughter in the ICU2 meant, having Louis by his side could manage to make him feel way better.

Said calm, though, was the calm that preceded the storm.

The night before, once he saw that Louis had fallen asleep, he allowed himself to cry and let it all out. When it was too strong for him just to sob about it, he would hug Louis tighter, hoping he wouldn't wake up and see him that vulnerable. He was tired of having breakdowns in front of him, and that each time Louis would ground and soothe him wasn't making him feel better. Of course, in the moment he would feel relieved of having someone to talk to, but he was afraid that maybe Louis would grow tired of it and left. He was used to be left behind, to be forgotten. And even if he didn't actually know what he wanted to do with Louis and all the raw, wild and rushing emotions he felt whenever he was around, he knew he didn't want to have Louis walking out of his life as many people had done in the past. He wouldn't be able to bear it.

Now, having woken up, he just felt overall tired. He felt the area around his eyes and nose still swollen, and his eyes were probably still red. He didn't want to be seen like that, neither did he want to get up and face reality. Everything would be easier if he could stay the way he was right now, isolated from his circumstances.

A constant and quite loud beep was what made him look towards the bed Eve was laying on. Just beside the IV pole, there was a heart rate and blood pressure monitor, and the cable of a few electrodes could be seen attached to Eve's chest, under her gown. Shit. With every hour that passed, the fact that his daughter was severely ill sunk further, and that monitor had only made him feel worse. Maybe that was what being in the SDU meant, being constantly controlled, and maybe Louis was way more worried than he looked like to ask for that monitor.

Louis.

Harry dared to look up, seeing Louis' face from under his chin; some light stubble filling the skin of it. He was still sleeping, the slight snoring wasn't as annoying as it was thought to be, and the peaceful and steady rhythm of his breathing was pretty soothing actually.

It was then when Harry realised that, unlike he thought, Louis was hugging him just as tight as he had been. While one of his arms was holding Louis' from his lower back and the other one was thrown loosely on top of his middle and resting on his thigh, Louis' free arm was resting on top of his shoulders and down his back, pulling them closer and tighter if that was possible. Their 'free hands' were resting entwined on Louis' thigh. _Entwined_.

And on one side, Harry was sure he had never felt more comfortable and in peace before, and on the other one, he didn't know what he was feeling at all.

Softly, and guided by a force of impulsiveness, he freed his hand from Louis' and reached up to touch Louis' jaw, stroking lightly his skin there and not being sure of why he was doing it. If Louis woke up right then, he would be as embarrassed as he had never been before. Apparently he didn't care because, even if he was thinking about it, he kept touching his skin, trying not to wonder about all the 'ifs' their situation had. It's just that he was so beautiful to his eyes, so pure and kind. He was handsome, and he wasn't just selfless, he was generous, he was loving and caring. For god's sake he was even willing to give away a part of his body to save Eve's life in case he was a match. How was Harry supposed to feel about that? He didn't know but right then, he felt confused.

There was this huge part inside of him that kept screaming at him, begging for him to recognize what to any outsider was obvious. So ingrained into him, making one with his nature, his instincts.

But objectively, knowing what he felt had never been a strong point of his before. He had a hard time disentangling his feelings and emotions until he got to an answer, it had always been like that. Maybe it was because growing up he had to figure everything out on his own and had no adult to rely on. Besides, he had always been quite the indecisive. It was justified.

His call back to earth arrived when he felt Louis move slightly. Embarrassment creeped all over his face in the form of a blush and he, as fast as he had ever moved in his whole life, took his hand away from Louis' chin. The rhythm of his breath increased, as well as his pulse. He hoped that Louis hadn't noticed, but he knew that his luck was never on his side. Louis opened one eye, looked down at Harry and cracked a bright smile once he saw him blush deep red.

"Keep doing that" he asked Harry cheerfully. Truth to be told, he had been awake for a while then, but only played attention to what Harry was doing when he felt him back away.

The lack of response and the fact that he was facing Harry's hair instead of his face made him insist a little bit further.

"Please, I really like it" Louis said, and a very blushed Harry glanced upwards, having his eyes met by a pair of blue radiant ones. Harry, in that state, remembered Louis of a teenager; his rosy cheeks, bright green eyes and that look of shame were taking away at least ten years of life from him, from twenty eight he was.

"I'm sorry" Harry managed to say while drowning in embarrassment and looking away again, feeling how the pressure of Louis' hug increased slightly. Louis was endeared.

"Can you please go back to doing that? If you don't I'll do it myself and it'll be weird as fuck" he asked for the third and what he wanted it to be the last time. Then, Harry raised his hand, not being sure of what he was doing and started stroking Louis' right jaw and cheek. He immediately saw an expression of satisfaction opening its way through Louis' face. He even closed his eyes. Harry left a little smile escape from within his lips at the sight.

"This is still weird" The alpha commented while stroking Louis' chin, feeling slightly uncomfortable now that he was awake. "Sorry I woke you up" he said, trying to feel less tense but still not being able to look at Louis' eyes.

"You didn't"

"You were snoring" Harry refuted.

"I wasn't" Louis insisted, tilting further into Harry's touch.

"You were, I heard you" Harry put up, having a baby smile opening its way through his lips.

Louis was just something else, something else he couldn't understand and wouldn't mind it if it stayed that way forever. It made him feel the best he had felt in ages.

"Anyway, still..." it was as if he couldn't find the right words to apologise for what he had done. He didn't have to, but he wouldn't mind an apology if he were to be woken up by some friend stroking his cheek. "I feel the need to apologise, it was invasive" he talked slowly, looking up so their eyes could meet once again.

"You didn't wake me, Haz. I woke up about twenty minutes ago? And I tried to fall back asleep but forgot about it when I felt you move" Louis explained, melting into Harry's touch even more. He couldn't be more whipped for this guy, even if it were possible.

"Wasn't talking 'bout that but..." he tried to leave it there, not wanting to actually address why he was stroking his cheek in the first place. And if he had to, he wouldn't know what to say, neither did he know what he'd do.

They spent a while in silence; the only noises filling up the room being the heart rate monitor and the scratching of Harry's fingers in Louis' stubble. It was so calm, peaceful to the point of dismissing what the real situation was. Still, said calmness was the peace that preceded the storm.

"You know, I feel as if we were running away" Louis said after a moment of hesitation, pulling Harry closer from where he was holding him. The alpha leaned into the touch, getting himself comfortable. He looked up then, confused as why he was saying that.

"Why? We're not" Harry refuted, looking down again and finding the courage to let his hand do what it wanted and lace its fingers with Louis'. He left a heavy sigh out of his lips once he felt how Louis squeezed his hand lightly as some sort of reassurance.

"I don't know, it feels as if we were stuck in a bubble" Louis explained, stoking Harry's hand with his thumb and looking away and then at Eve's bed. She was sleeping peacefully, but she would probably wake up that day. All the sedatives had worn off and she was sleeping completely on her own. That was good somehow. "And we don't know what's about to come. It's just so fucking intense" Louis talked again, staring at the heart rate monitor and checking Eve's vitals.

"Are you scared?" Harry asked, raising his chin and looking up, meeting immediately with Louis' gaze.

"You're not?" Louis asked back, hugging Harry slightly tighter. They were being completely honest. It was as if they were stripping down their emotions to the other and, regardless of the situation, it was extremely intimate.

"I'm bloody terrified" Harry confessed, relying on Louis' emotional support to avoid releasing a sob. He wouldn't allow himself to cry again, not after all he had cried last night. He took a deep breath and slowly let go of said feeling of breaking down.

"I know"

And Harry couldn't be more thankful to have Louis in his life. He felt as if he had no one to rely on but him. He had Niall, yes, but his bond with Louis was way stronger. They had known each other for not even half as long as Niall and him had, but they felt linked to the point of trusting the other completely. "It'll be fine, we'll make it through this" Louis said afterwards, finally releasing some pressure from the hug but not letting Harry go just yet. Their hands were still with their fingers entwined and the both of them were ashamed to admit that they were incredibly comfortable with that. It was just so confusing.

Harry had been rather confused lately because he couldn't tell if what he was feeling was a consequence of the situation his daughter was in or if he was seriously developing strong feelings for the man hugging him from behind. Nothing seemed to have changed, but something in his heart did. Everything was turning its way around, falling into place, and he wasn't sure if he would like to know the outcome of it. Falling in love was a thought that normally didn't take place on his mind because he was terrified of it, but Louis was managing to break down those walls, those thoughts and fears that restrained him from loving someone. And quite suddenly he wasn't feeling as afraid as before.

They fell into silence, resting comfortably against the other, feeling slightly surer when they knew they both felt scared. Thinking about everything that could happen was probably not the healthiest thing to do, but they couldn't help it when they didn't know what to expect.

Louis didn't know when Eve was going to wake up; the mixture of sedatives had worn off, so it was a matter of time before she did. And while thinking about it and as if someone up above had heard his thought, he saw her blue eyes opening, taking their time to focus on Louis and Harry sitting on the recliner. She gave them a weak smile once she was awake enough to recognise her environment, which he reciprocated.

And then it dawned on Harry that the picture Eve was watching was her father and her doctor curled up in a recliner, with their fingers entwined.

Shit.

He was the one to break the cuddle apart, getting up immediately and releasing his grip on Louis hand, feeling a cold rush in it immediately after they lose contact. He was already despising said sensation.

"Good morning, love" he greeted her, approaching the bed and acting as if nothing had happened. She smiled as widely as she could, and grabbed her dad's hand once he got there. "How are you doing? You feel better?" Harry heard Louis getting up from the recliner before feeling his presence.

"Yes" She said weakly and looked at Louis, giving him the best smile she could while feeling as ill as she did.

"I'm so glad to hear that" Harry said on a low volume, squeezing Eve's hand slightly and feeling relieved now that she was awake.

"Lou?" She said weakly; her soft voice making Louis move from behind Harry's back and making him stand beside him this time. "What do I have now?" She asked, taking her time to let the question leave her lips. It was so sad thinking she was used to being ill.

Louis hesitated, not being sure if telling her was a good idea. She wasn't old enough to understand, but she deserved to know what was happening to her body. It was just fair.

"Do you remember last time you were here for a few days, a couple months ago?" He asked and she answered nodding. "Well, you remember you had two organs, in your lower back, that weren't functioning the way they had to, so we fixed it, right?" She nodded again, whimpering when she felt a wave of nausea hit her empty stomach. Her jaundice had gotten even worse, and she was just worn out. Louis was hoping they would find a match as soon as possible. "What happens now, is that other organ up in here," he pulled away the bedsheets and touched her abdomen, on top of her gown. He pressed ever so slightly on the upper part, right side. "called the liver, isn't working as it should, and we have to fix it" she nodded again, making a gesture of discomfort when Louis pressed, even if he was as gentle as possible. Her skin was irritated by the fever, and even if it was way lower than before, it was still higher than average. "However, it won't be as easy as it was before" he said finally, hoping she wouldn't ask him why.

"What are you going to do?" She asked, squeezing Harry's hand while talking, and having her father kissing it when he kneaded beside the bed.

Harry and Louis shared a look that was just enough for them to communicate their intentions. Harry looked worried, Louis did too, but with the smallest nod Harry could have ever given, Louis decided he would tell her.

"Sadly, this organ is so so ill that we'll have to find you another one" he explained with his voice as sweet as he could make it, smiling softly at her when he saw her worried semblance, trying to comfort her somehow.

"So I'll have to go to surgery" Louis nodded at her assumption, not being able to speak when her voice had such a scared tone.

"But you'll be okay, I won't let anything bad happen to you" Louis was quick to assure her, patting her leg on top of the bed sheets. The fear in the room could be felt for everyone.

"You promise?" She asked, an fearful tingling in her voice. She looked at him deep into his blue eyes, as if she were seeing past what Louis showed. And then she saw it, she knew that as long as she was under Louis' care, she would be fine. He would protect her under every single circumstance.

"I promise" he said, reassuring the little girl and embracing her in a soft hug, careful not to touch her IVs and not to squeeze her too much. She felt so at peace when Louis held her in his arms, so connected. His scent had always been one of her favourite smells. She placed her head on Louis' chest, hearing the soft beating of his heart and relaxed almost immediately. It had always had that effect on her, it was quite magical to see.

Harry watched them, not being able to avoid smiling. Those kind of actions Louis had were so selfless. It was in those kind of moments that he felt as if he weren't alone in the world, and actually had Louis standing by his side. And he did have him, but when being alone in his home and when having to take care of his daughter on his own was when he felt lonely. He seriously despised getting home late with a whole lot of problems and things to do and not having someone to talk about them with. That's why, seeing Louis act the way he's done ever since they met made him consider that maybe falling in love with him wouldn't be so terrible, besides from being extremely easy. That was why he was starting to like that idea of mating for life with an omega, because of him. The only terrible thing that was keeping him from giving in completely was the huge possibility of Louis not feeling the same, and that would be embarrassing as fuck.

"When are they going to do it?" The both of them heard Eve ask, still with her face buried in Louis' chest.

Louis tried to pull away from the hug so he could look at her, but she held onto him tighter. That was why he decided to sit on the side of her bed and let her get comfortable in his embrace for as long as she wanted to. Harry sat on the bed as well, looking at them with the shade of the biggest smile he had given in the past twenty four hours.

"First we need to find a liver that looks a lot like yours, and then we'll do the surgery" Louis explained, stroking her back as she laid more comfortably on his lap. "That could be this week, next, or next month, we don't know" Eve shifted uncomfortably under Louis' grip, fighting the urge to puke whatever was left in her stomach, if it wasn't empty by then.

"You're nauseous, love?" Harry asked her, stepping into Louis and Eve's bubble, having her looking at him with tired eyes. She nodded, feeling a rush of nausea hitting her again.

"It's been a fair amount of hours since you last ate, though" Harry looked at him, remembering how bad she had felt after puking dinner last night.

"Don't want to eat" she mumbled once that wave of nausea had gone by and she was able to talk and breathe without gagging.

"And you won't have to. I'll just put the food directly into your veins, okay?" Eve nodded at that, not being able to give even a smile or something. The poor girl felt miserable.

Louis pressed the button beside the bed so it would call a nurse and get her some TPN to keep her as healthy as possible. A few minutes of silence later, the nurse knocked on the door and got inside the room, giving Louis a surprised look. Normally, patients and doctors weren't so close, but Louis and Eve's case was something else, something special.

"Hello" she greeted them, staring at Eve, then at Harry and then at Louis, giving them a confused look. She wasn't the nurse that had helped them during the night and Louis had yet to find a good nurse for Eve during morning and early afternoon.

Luckily that nurse was just a human, so she couldn't technically smell the mixture of scents that was filling that room up. Well, she actually could but it didn't mean anything out of the ordinary to her.

"Hi" Louis greeted her back; Eve hid her face even deeper, now in Louis' tummy. "I was wondering if you could get me some TPN for her" he said, stroking her back slowly and trying to make feel as comfortable as possible. "Also, I need to schedule the insertion of an NG tube as soon as possible" he explained, trying to look as relaxed as possible. He didn't like this girl already, way too judgemental. She hadn't spoken a word about it, but he could feel the question being held by her lips. So could Harry.

"Sure. Do you need anything else?" She asked, again, alternating her sight between the three of them. Of course she knew who Louis was, it was rather difficult to go low when you were a Tomlinson in that specific hospital, so a lot of things were going through her head.

"No, thank you" Louis said politely, queuing her to leave them alone.

The nurse left them alone again; that time she was there was more than enough to send Eve back to sleep again, comfortably resting her body into Louis'. He kept stroking her soft straight hair that lately was curling slightly at the bottom. She was so beautiful, yet so sick.

The tension in the room could be cut with a knife; silence being the step preceding the uncomfortable chat they would have to have. It felt as if every time they relied on the other, the clearer got the fact that they couldn't just stay friends. Neither of them wanted to admit the existence of said possibility but the feeling was opening its way through them.

Truth to be told, back in time people didn't believe in aplha-omega friendships. Before, when instincts had more say in everyday life, it was just so difficult for an alpha to stay put whenever they were around omegas, and they would be just obsessively protective of the ones they knew. With time, omegas started fighting for their rights and eventually alphas and omegas were practically equals before the eyes of society. Besides, influence from human relationships made wolves behave more humanly, which contributed to the possibility of alpha and omegas establishing relationships that weren't only for mating purposes.

The problem now was that, after five years of friendship, signs of romantic interest could be misunderstood. Harry wasn't sure if what he was seeing was what actually was there, or what he wanted it o be for that matter.

"She looks better than yesterday" Harry started, avoiding eye contact by reaching out for Eve's hand and taking it into his.

"She does, but still..." Louis said, looking all around but Harry. They fell into silence once again; being in physical contact only with Eve, but looking at each other when the other wasn't looking. Just as teenagers. That was somewhat of a step forward.

"Do you think she's seen us?" Louis asked after a while, not daring to look at Harry in the eyes and finally facing the elephant in the room. Once they were out of their bubble, talking about how they relied on each other was extremely uncomfortable, way too much for them.

"I don't know" Harry mumbled, stroking Eve's hand as a way to avoid looking at the blue of his eyes. "Hope she hasn't" he said, looking up just as Louis lowered his gaze. Louis' heart twitched inside his chest.

"Oh" Louis said, feeling rejection.

That was one of the risks when liking someone with huge emotional instabilities; when you hold them during their hard times you may believe they feel something for you, but once they're fine again that feeling goes away and you feel like shit. And much to Louis' displeasure, he was shit at hiding that.

"Don't get me wrong" Harry was rather quick to say when he saw Louis' sad expression. He didn't actually mean what came out of his mouth. "Uh, just"

It seemed like the words were trapped inside his head and he couldn't unravel them and get them out. He was nervous and that only made it more frustrating.

"I'm sorry, it wasn't meant to come out like that" he sighed, angry at himself and at his tounge for always betraying him. He felt really ashamed.

"S'okay" Louis said without looking at him, lowering his gaze to look at Eve while she slept on his lap.

"No, it's not. I don't want to sound like I'm using you for comfort" Harry explained; strong in his posture. Still, Louis refused to look at him in the eyes, finding whatever that was in that room way more interesting that the green of them.

"You're not" even if he wanted, he couldn't bring himself to look up and meet Harry's orbes. He didn't know what to think. Harry was apologizing right in front of him and he could only close himself. He was just so afraid something would slip out of his mouth and ruin the stability he had finally reached when he admitted his feelings to himself. He wouldn't be able to hold them back if he looked at him, he didn't know what to think, but he could feel his heart getting slightly hopeful and that wasn't something good.

"But it looks like I am and it's not fair" Harry insisted, scooting a little bit closer but not to the point of touching. Louis appreciated it. "You've done so much for us and I treat you like this" Harry kept on rambling, wishing that Louis would look at him on one side and on the other, completely hating the idea. He couldn't begin to explain, neither could he understand the effect that Louis' eyes had on him. "I don't deserve you" he said finally, holding slightly tighter onto Eve's hand and trying to keep his emotions under wrap. He knew that someday this would happen; he wouldn't be able to contain the mess inside any longer, and he would explode and poor Louis if he had to watch that.

He thought that all the crying he had done the night before was enough, but the tingling in his heart and the already forming knot in his throat were saying otherwise.

"Don't be so harsh on yourself" Louis said, finally looking up so their eyes could meet for a brief second. Both of their breaths hitched at the contact. "You're going through so much, is understandable, so do I understand that you're used to bearing everything on your own and suddenly, having someone as stubborn as me beside you..." Louis didn't know what to say next. He was willingly taking the position of Harry's shoulder to cry upon during one of the most difficult times of his life and he knew why he was doing it. But Harry didn't and that made their situation unfair somehow. Anyway, it wasn't as if Louis would be able, nor ready, to explain his reasons when he had barely discovered them. "I can't even begin to imagine how you feel, and you're wrong if you think I'm going to put what you said against you" Louis dared to lift his gaze from the mass of tangled hair that was Eve's head, to meet Harry's eyes. He could never get used to how transparent they were, how much they showed everything that was there to show about him.

"It's just..." Harry stuttered slightly, being a little taken aback by the depth of Louis' words. "I don't want her to see things where she wants to see them when I'm not sure they're there"

And yeah, maybe that was a bit too much, but Harry hadn't been able to keep it to himself. He was just about to explode into a crying mess and couldn't care less about whatever that came out of his mouth as long as it wasn't hurtful.

He didn't know how to feel when the possibility of somewhat of a relationship came to his mind, and even if that thought, for a matter of fear wasn't around his head much, it seemed that it was actually around his mouth. Was he thinking about the possibility of having something with Louis? Would he allow himself to do that? To fall in love again and be vulnerable?

And then he saw Louis scowl cutely when he didn't understand -or did but didn't want to get too much into it to keep his hopes under control- and he wasn't that sure of the answer he had been giving to that question, more often now than a year or two ago. And he was just a little step closer to giving in; adding more fuel to a combustion that was getting closer to explosion.

He saw the omega blush slightly, but instead of attempting to take those words back, he just let them sit there, wondering how it would feel like and somehow, bringing himself to do the first step of many towards the answer that was still buried in between his thoughts. Of course, not the best moment, as always.

"I'm lost" Louis said lowly, avoiding Harry's gaze once more. He was just so on the edge, on the edge of standing up and kissing him and never letting him go. But he had to keep his composure and act like the adult he was, not the teenager that was ruling him.

"She loves you. So much, Louis" Harry began explaining, trying to go back to his comfort zone but finding the door that led to it locked. And he didn't have the key anymore. "You mean the world to her" he kept explaining, playing with his hands on his lap and sweating nervously. "And I feel like I don't know myself anymore and we're in the shittiest moment ever and you're the only thing I have to hold onto" He was just so overwhelmed, so fucking tired. He felt all the emotions he had kept to himself melt together in the pit of his stomach, threatening to become a breakdown in a matter of minutes. "I don't know what I'm saying anymore, I just..." Louis looked up and saw the desperate need to leave in Harry's eyes, of shifting and running away. So he instinctively went for his hand, up grabbing him by the wrist when he saw signs of him getting up. The touch sent them both into a deep silence, only concentrating in how their skin felt against the other's, not being able to believe that twenty minutes ago they were snuggling in a recliner. "I need a moment" Harry murmured after a while, still too concentrated in the soft hold of Louis' hand onto his wrist.

"You don't" Louis said simply, not getting up just because Eve was still sleeping on his lap. "You need to let it all out, let it be crying, talking, punching something even" He said, daring to look as deep as he could into the green of Harry's eyes and finding nothing but pure fear.

He was scared, just like a deer in the middle of the road when it sees the lights of a truck approaching. Ironically, most of the times deers were afraid of wolves. He was scared but it was still difficult to understand. It was as if he were scared not only of having his daughter under the knife if not something else, something that had been residing in there for longer than expected.

"Don't hold it in anymore, I promise it'll be better" His voice spoke softly while their eyes were still locked in the other's. Louis shifted his body slowly and carefully so he could stand up without waking Eve up, and once he was able to leave her in a comfortable position, he turned back to Harry only to find him with tears gathering in his eyes.

"I'm so fucking tired of crying" Harry murmured, finally breaking down and letting the tears leave his eyelids. Louis was quick to hug him, hold him together while he was breaking apart. The difference was that this time it was for real. Now it wasn't just about one particular event, it was about everything Harry had repressed in his heart, which probably dated back to when he lost Isabella. All of it was leaking out, tearing Harry apart while Louis could only hold him together; Harry having to make himself even smaller than he felt just to fit into Louis small frame.

"It's okay, It'll be okay" those were the only words that Louis could say, not being able to process anything else but Harry's state. The palm of his hand went up and down Harry's spine in a poor attempt to soothe him, but he knew it wasn't doing anything when Harry's sobs only seemed to grew bigger and louder. So he scented him, strongly, filling the whole room with his sweet and calming scent, earning a whimper from the alpha clung to him. He was worried out of his mind as he faced this situation, one he had never faced before, and he was on his own to try and keep it together. And he was sure he would, because whatever it was that he felt for this poor guy wasn't going to let him break apart without him by his side to glue the broken pieces together once it was over. It was just pure instinct.

Harry held on tighter, squeezing Louis and placing his head just above his heart, hearing the not so slow beats of it. Louis was worried and his heart could only show that. Anyway, said rapid beat was enough for Harry to have something to hold onto which wasn't actually tangible. And that and the strong smell of him could manage to try and make him feel better.

Everything was just so sensitive. The bare touch of their skin, only where there wasn't any fabric to avoid it, was burning them to ashes. The mixing of their scents, now overpowered by Louis' could only make them inhale deeper, wanting to hold onto it as much as possible. It was just so much, so terrifying but so calming at the same time.

"I'm so confused" Harry finally said something, barely audible; head buried in the crook of Louis' neck, nuzzling at his scent gland. Louis looked down, only to be met by a big mass of brown chocolate curls and decided it was best to leave Harry say what he needed to say on his own and try not to push anything out before he was ready. That could only be more damaging even. "I've always been alone, y'know?" He said; sound still muffled by the white coat Louis was wearing and barely audible. "It's always been me the one who had to make important decisions, the one who had to give up everything" Harry continued; his voice only grew more insecure as time and words went by. He was opening up, exposing himself to someone who he trusted, being vulnerable and hoping for the best. "And now I have you and everything is just so different" Louis could only listen, being completely lost in Harry's words and only capable of rubbing his back, working completely in autopilot. Harry couldn't explain how close to sure he felt when opening up to Louis, it was as if their bodies knew each other and that was enough for their minds to feel said sense of sureness. So confusing. "And I know I can rely on you, you've made it clear, but it's just so weird for me to do that" he sighed, making himself comfortable in Louis' hold, making his breath hitch at the movement.

"I know you're not used to that and it's okay if you want me to back away, if that's what you're asking for" Louis said softly, acknowledging how sad and torn he would feel if that was what Harry was asking.

"No" he was quick to say, reassuring Louis by hugging him tighter. He was no longer crying but he still had the remaining of said bitter tears that once ran through his cheeks. Louis' heart was beating faster out of nowhere and not so much because of worry. "I don't know where I'd be right now without you" And Louis heart started to beat the fastest it had ever had. His cheeks blushed with a bright shade of pink, and a another hitched breath was enough to let Harry know that what he was saying was affecting him. "For the first time in what feels like an eternity, I feel the need of having someone, of not being alone" Louis' breath hitched in anticipation, feeling those words travel straight to his heart and burning the path as they went. "And that someone is you. I feel like I need you"

Harry was confused to say the least. So was Louis after those words. Everything they knew about themselves, every single feeling was filling up their mouths and they weren't being able to contain them, neither could they understand them. Harry just knew that they were slipping out of his mouth against his conscious will and when this breakdown was over he knew he would regret absolutely everything he said. Not because of its meaning if not because of saying it without acknowledging it. He would slap himself if he weren't having a breakdown.

"I think..." he started, trying to get those words out of his mouth to see if saying it would make him believe it. He hoped so because he knew he wouldn't be able to live with that big of a confusion. "I think I might have feelings... for you" he was finally able to get those words out, and managed to bury his face even deeper into Louis' neck so he wouldn't feel as embarrassed, inhaling deep in fear he would never smell him again.

They were finally out, and that was definitely it. That was what he needed to do to acknowledge that fact for himself, saying it out loud.

"I don't know" Harry managed to say after a while; the room fell into deep silence.

It had been just so impulsive, just as if his heart had taken control of his whole self and did what it thought would be best for him. And, on one side of the events, it was. It had taken months, maybe even years, for Harry to acknowledge that he felt something for him and not to think that it was wrong or somehow disrespectful to the memory of Isabella. Maybe she would be even happier if she could see Harry trying to build his love life again. Of course, not the best moment, but he had to go one step at a time, preferably, baby steps.

Louis, on his side, was astonished, completely at loss of words. It had taken him a while to understand his emotions, but it was just too good to be true having them reciprocated the day after he admitted them to himself. It was just unbelievable, Louis still wasn't able to digest those words. And he just couldn't feel better, he wanted to scream out of happiness, but as happy as he felt he could bring no word out of his mouth. Out of all the possible outcomes of him liking Harry, practically none of them took in the possibility of that Harry liking him back, and he did. And now he was the confused one.

Now, popping that bubble and coming back to reality, Harry was in the shittiest moment ever. His daughter was about to have a liver transplantation and he had been alone until then. Having Louis in his life was really important, and maybe, only maybe he had misunderstood the feeling of gratitude and support with love or liking of some sort. That would be heartbreaking for Louis, would totally destroy him. Still, even with all that on thought, he wasn't able to stop wondering about a life together as a family, about them mating.

He took in a deep breath and reminded himself that he's a twenty-eight year old man and that he shouldn't be reacting to this as a teenager would. He had to act like the adult he was. But he couldn't help the flutter of his heart and the butterflies in his stomach.

"Okay" He was able to pronounce a word out of his astonished state. That was a step forward. "Harry, look at me" He asked, trying to sound as sweet as possible. Harry shook his head, burying it further into Louis' chest. He felt so embarrassed, just like when he was a teen and, because he couldn't contain his impulses, told Isabella he had a crush on her. To his mind, there would be no such outcome this time. "Harry..." Louis tried again, but instead of talking he went for Harry's hands, which were resting against his own lower back. He grabbed them delicately and pulled them away, forcing Harry to break the bear hug they were in. He was so blushed; his cheeks painted in a bright shade of pink. "Baby, look at me"

Harry, despite the fact he was facing Louis, refused to look at him in the eyes. He was starting to regret saying what he'd said, it was just too soon and too new somehow. He had been finally able to understand why he felt like he did whenever Louis was around, but to do that he had to out himself and that was utterly terrifying.

Harry finally looked up at him; not because he wanted to if not because of the pet name. It sent a shiver down his spine. The sweetness it had when it came out of Louis' mouth was overwhelmingly endearing. He wouldn't mind being called pet names for the rest of his life as long as they came out of Louis' mouth and made him feel that way. He didn't understand how Louis managed to make him feel sure even in times when he thought he was about to collapse. God, he didn't deserve him, or so he thought.

"Hey there" Louis greeted him a few seconds after their eyes met. Both pairs were shining bright with what, for Harry were the remaining of the tears he had shed and for Louis was pure and raw emotion.

"I'm sorry" Harry murmured, trying to look down again but finding it difficult when Louis' fingers were already under his chin to avoid it.

He wanted to hide into a cave and never come out until everything was forgotten, but having Louis right there, holding him together despite the only physical contact they had was Louis' hand grabbing his, and his fingers under his chin, made him think he wouldn't forgive himself if he were to do so. So he gave him the tiniest smile ever and was greeted with one significantly brighter. Louis was grateful that the breakdown apparently had lasted less than he thought it would, much less damage to the both of them.

"I don't know what I was thinking" Harry stated; his voice filling the room with quietness and tranquility as he felt Louis' fingers leave their spot under his chin.

"Don't be sorry. It's okay" Louis said, being his completely honest self. Now that he was able to get Harry out of his comfort zone, he wouldn't let him back in, that's for sure. "Look, I don't think these are the best circumstances to discuss this" and he was honest, the raw kind. Maybe it sounded harsh or something, even if he didn't want it to, but there's no nice way to tell someone who just told you they like you that it's not time to talk about it. But in fact, it wasn't the right time, nor were they in the best places with themselves to discuss such thing. Harry looked hurt for a second but Louis was quick to comfort him with words and the softest and most subtle caress on the hand he was still grabbing. "If you still want to, we can talk about everything once the surgery is over" Harry shrugged slightly, trying to accept the idea that his thoughts had betrayed him and that he would lose Louis as a whole, not only as a potential mate if not as one of the only friends he had, and the only person he could rely on.

"Don't get me wrong, though" Louis started; the thought of outing himself slipped into his mind and it didn't take him long to decide what to do. Harry had just done it, and if it would collaborate to make him feel surer about this, he would do it. "I'm in the exact same place as you are right now" he explained, having Harry looking at him deep in the eyes; the tiniest amount of hope could be seen, and maybe, only maybe Harry hadn't fucked up as bad as he thought he'd done. "It's only... I don't want us to keep talking about this while we are going through hard times because I don't want to get our expectations up" he kept explaining. The point of it was clear, it was just that he didn't want Harry to think he didn't feel the same because indeed, he did. "What if one of us, or both of us realize it was just something that happened because of this? It'd be awkward to keep up with our friendship, wouldn't it?" Harry nodded, acknowledging said fact. Louis had a strong point there, and if they wanted this supposed mutual liking to evolutionate, they would have to give it some time to settle in and get to know that feeling that was absorbing their hearts little by little.

"You can only imagine how relieving it was for me hearing you say that" Harry pronounced; first long and proper sentence in a while now. But with that big of a weight off of his shoulders, talking was way easier. "Just knowing we're on the same page" he continued, not realizing how, subconsciously, their bodies were getting closer in space. "You're right, everything is just too new and we may lose more than we can win if we decide on something now" Louis smiled genuinely, happy that Harry had been able to understand the situation they were in and would give those feelings a while to develop.

"And I'm so happy to hear that" Louis said, reaching out to embrace Harry in another hug, being severely tempted to kiss him now that he somehow knew he wouldn't be so against it.

They held on that hug for a while, feeling hugely relieved that everything that could be talked about had been talked about and now they just had to wait. It was so fulfilling to finally understand a feeling and what's better, be reciprocated with it. It felt unreal.

During the day, and after a lot of thought, Harry called Paul and told him his situation and asked him to spread the word with his workmates. Paul, on his behalf, said that all those who were willing to do what being a donor involved and wanted to help, tested themselves and helped save Harry's daughter's life. Harry gave some more details, for example, that if their blood was of type B RH positive, it would be much more likely for the donor and Eve to be matches, but he would accept and thank from the bottom of his heart to everyone that showed up.

Just with that call, and one to Niall, he gathered about nine people to do the test without counting himself and Louis that same afternoon. That was a total of twelve people who were willingly doing this out of love, and because they cared about him. He even cried, once again, when thanking all his workmates, and Niall and his girlfriend for showing up there. It meant so much for him and it had been so unbeliEveble. He couldn't be more thankful.

Later, that afternoon, almost nearing the evening, the tests were run and everyone showed their support when going out of the extractions room, hugging Harry and giving him some loving and caring words. He couldn't help being emotional.

Eve woke up a few times, and when the three of them were able to catch up, they told her how amazing Harry's workmates had been and how they may find her a mach rather sooner than later. That was completely unsure, but both of them hoped that within the twelve people tested there was the match they were looking for. They prayed to every god above them to let it be it so they could go into surgery as soon as possible.

Hopefully, everything would be better the next day when they get the results back and decide what they'll do.

And Louis may have slept another night at the hospital, too.


	15. Chapter XIII

The morning of Friday, May 22nd, 2015 had been way more peaceful and organised than intended.

Harry and Louis woke up all tangled, in a huge mass of limbs and body parts, just as the morning before, and each of them parted their own ways. Louis decided to cover the morning shift in the emergency wing as it had been a while since the last time he had done it while Harry chose to stay all morning with Eve. She was awake and could stay that way for longer periods of time. Still, her condition wore her off rather quickly.

The previous day, while evening was approaching, Eve got her NG tube placed. It was a bit of a mess since, as always, she only trusted Louis to put it in. Louis, regardless of having studied to be a nurse, worked in the hospital as a doctor, and while he was allowed to start some IV's and do minor stuff, the insertion of an NG tube was another deal. Finally, Eve ended up convincing him and he put it under a nurse's care. There was some crying as the tube went in because it is awful to have it placed but once it was over everything was good again.

Because her digestive system was pretty messed up, being a whole day without eating hadn't been prejudicial, helpful even. Still, that NG tube wouldn't be for feeding purposes, if not for draining. She could get pretty nauseous just from stomach contents so emptying it once in a while would help her feel better. For feeding, she would be on parenteral nutrition, which meant a solution of nutrients and electrolytes would be put straight into her bloodstream so her liver would have to work as little as possible.

Louis took his latex gloves off of his hands once he finished with his last patient from the morning shift. It was almost noon actually, so he texted Liam to grab something from the cafeteria so they could hang out for a while. It had been a while since they last met up for something, for the both of them had pretty busy schedules. Liam answered with a few thumbs-up emojis and told him to meet him at his office.

He was a gynaecologist and obstetrician, so his office was filled up with pregnancy pictures and related decoration and stuff. Louis prefers to meet up outside of the hospital or in his office but he wouldn't turn down Liam's suggestion. Being in that room was like a constant reminder of his difficulties to conceive, and reminded him as well of the times he had been there for personal check-ups when he was pregnant with Olivia. It also reminded him of all his struggles to get pregnant again.

Almost two years after he lost his girl he decided he wouldn't give up and would try to have children. He was single, of course, but his desire of being a mother was greater than his desire of having a mate. So he bought sperm from a sperm bank and did four rounds of IUI which all resulted in failure. He still didn't want to give up, and after giving his body a three-month break he went for IVF, convinced that his problem resided in conceiving. Liam tried to tell him that his problem wasn't there, that he could actually conceive but the embryo couldn't latch on because of the scar tissue that covered his womb. His only delivery and the infection he got after resolving the situation with his placenta caused permanent scarring, making it really difficult for him to get pregnant and carry a pregnancy to term. Sadly he didn't listen and spent huge amounts of money on three rounds of IVF, where two resulted in failure and the last one didn't, but a few weeks after he found out he was pregnant he had a natural miscarriage and ever since then he decided he wouldn't try for a baby again.

So being in that office obviously reminded him of everything he had gone through, but the few times he actually visited it he tried not to think about it and just focus on Liam.

"Hey man," he greeted Liam when he got into his office.

"Hey Lou," was greeted back. "Oh god," Liam mumbled before seeing his friend, being hit by the smell of another alpha clinging hardly to him.

"What?" Louis asked confused.

"You smell of an alpha, who've you been with?" He asked possessively, approaching his friend and sniffing the air around him, looking for signs of an alpha forcing themselves on him. Needless to say, he was pretty confused when he found out that Louis was perfectly fine, unharmed.

"Harry?" the omega wondered, backing away slightly and sniffing himself, finding that indeed, he smelled of him. And he wasn't going to lie, he loved that. "Oh,"

"He scented you? What happened?" Liam asked, much calmer now that he could give that smell a face.

"He didn't... we've just been..." and then he saw why it would be difficult to explain his situation to his overprotective alpha best friend.

"What?" Liam inquired, eager to know, sitting down on the chair he had for his patients during consultations.

"Eve's been admitted," he said, hoping it would be enough for the time being.

"Oh, poor thing, how is she?" Liam pouted slightly, watching Louis sit on his exam table. He was a sweetheart and hated when he had to give bad news or when he had to hear them for that matter, and he knew how much Eve meant to Louis. Tough, he still didn't like that his omega best friend smelled of Harry, it was just instinctual.

"She was admitted a few nights ago" he commented casually while Liam handed him a plastic tray with fish and chips, pulling out of the bag another plastic tray with roasted chicken and a salad. Louis thanked him with a smile and grabbed the plastic utensils from the tray so he could start eating.

"What's wrong now?" Liam asked, severely intrigued and worried as he peeled the plastic wrap from his tray, forgetting about the subject 'Louis being with an alpha that wasn't him'.

"It's bad. Acute liver failure," He explained while chewing on his first bit of fish and chips. Unlike other hospital's cafeteria, this one was pretty good. It served tasty food at slightly affordable prices. It was a little bit expensive but the hospital was expensive itself so it was expectable.

Liam almost choked on a bite of salad.

"That's some hard shit there, man," He commented once he managed to swallow the bit that was in his mouth.

"I know," the omega sighed, taking another bite of his lunch and trying to organise his ideas in order to tell Liam everything and catch up. "We ran some tests yesterday to find a match for liver transplantation,"

"How's Harry?" Liam asked, looking concerned. By everything Louis told him about Harry and the few times he'd seen him, he had grown fond of the guy. Louis always had so many good things to say about him.

"He's not doing well," Louis said, having a flashback to all the times he'd had a breakdown in front of him and he had to hold him together. They weren't that much compared to what they could have been. "Had a few breakdowns, cried quite a bit,"

"And you? I know how important they are for you," Liam said; a sympathetical smile opening its way through his face. Louis couldn't be more thankful to have a friend like Liam in his life, even if he had those jealousy episodes every once in a while.

"I'm doing everything I can, you know? I tested myself to see if I'm a match and I've been helping Harry through his bad times. It's got me stressed," He explained, balancing his legs absently since they didn't touch the floor from where he was sitting. He stopped it when he saw Liam's mouth wide open.

"You tested yourself? You... Are you really going to donate if you're a match?" Liam asked, completely astonished. He knew Louis. They had been friends for about ten years now and he knew he was selfless and liked to take care of his patients, but to that point?

"I mean... I don't think I'll be a match but if I am and there's no better one, 'course I will," He answered, shrugging slightly and taking another bite at his lunch. "Harry's most likely the closest match, though," he added. "Besides, he's an alpha, he'd heal faster,"

"He let you? Does he know you tested yourself?" Liam kept asking because, as always, he wanted to know everything about Louis. It was as if he were his father, always caring and protecting, so alpha-like. When that guy found his mate they would be the luckiest omega on earth.

"He did, but I had to negotiate. He wouldn't let me at first but I said that if she and I were the same blood type, then I would test myself," He explained, playing around with his food. "And we are so he had to let me. I hope that if I am, there is another match. Not because I don't want to do it, it's just... I know he doesn't want me to," it was a constant in Harry's mind, the fact that if Louis was a match he would have to do it, but both of them, for the sake of the other, hoped Louis wasn't. "We'll get the results today and I'm nervous as fuck," Liam smiled as if he were placing himself where Louis was right now as if he could understand everything that was going through his mind. "I mean, what are the odds?"

"And what are you doing with your heart?" Liam knew him like the back of his hand. He knew every facial expression, he knew how he was feeling in that exact moment, as well as he knew that there was something Louis hadn't told him and that something was on that side of things.

"I think the question would be 'What am I not doing with my heart'," And there went his mere attempt of laughing the subject off.

"You finally admitted you have feelings for him, ah?" Liam mumbled expressionless, not liking the idea of having his best friend feeling something towards someone else. Forgive him but in ten years of friendship he had developed a huge sense of protection over Louis, and that wouldn't just fade away. Still, the innuendo made Louis blush slightly.

"Kind of," Louis decided to go for the truth. It was always like that, lying to him was useless. "Both of us did," And the Liam was shocked; once again almost choking on a bite of salad.

"Wait wait. What do you mean with 'Both of us'?" Liam asked once he could manage that bite of salad without spitting it back into the tray.

"I had kind of a hard time trying to understand what I feel, y' know?" Louis started. He knew that whatever it was that he had to tell Liam, he would understand, hopefully. "And a few nights ago everything started to like... fall into place. Let's say that now I can sort of live with the idea that I like him," he paused for a while, trying to find the right words to describe everything he felt whenever he was with Harry. And suddenly liking wasn't enough. "Like, really like him,"

"And...?" Liam queued him to keep talking since the part where the 'both' came hadn't been explained just yet.

"Yesterday he was having this huge breakdown and he told me he... has some kind of feelings for me," Louis took a deep breath, realising for the first time how giddy saying that out loud made him feel, how his heart would flutter in happiness. "I swear I feel seventeen again," And he smiles, genuinely.

"Let's hope it doesn't end like when you were seventeen," Liam commented bitterly, obviously referring to how Louis fell for Zayn at seventeen and how everything ended with him.

Louis sat still, not wanting to address what he was feeling now, for a guy as pure as Harry, with how he felt when he made the mistake of falling for Zayn. The only thing that could be compared was the feeling, and they weren't as alike. What he felt for Zayn was influenced by the naïveness of a seventeen-year-old, completely inexperienced and without knowing what love was. With Harry, he was mature, an adult. He had already suffered and healed a lot of times, and he had a lot of insecurities when it came to acknowledging the feeling.

"I hope he is my happily ever after," Louis wondered, letting his inner teen show a bit. There was only one thing he wanted more than having something with Harry which worked, and that was having Eve completely healed and healthy.

"But wait, are you dating or something? Will he court you?" Liam asked, still not having clear in which terms they were. He was slightly doubtful still, afraid that the mentioned alpha would hurt his friend. He would rip his head off if he even came close to doing so.

"We're not... Yet," Louis answered; the smallest tint of disappointment colouring his voice. "Liam, we're in the worst moment ever, it's not the right time for anything and I really want this to work," he explained, trying to understand and explain why he hadn't just kissed Harry right when he said he might have feelings for him. "It almost broke his heart, you should have seen him. But I explained him all this, that we may be confused and it'll end up horribly if we don't take some time to process this before trying and we agreed we'd talk after Eve's surgery,"

"That's some intelligence right there, man," Liam said, slightly more supportive, going back to his meal. Both of them were halfway down with it. "Anyway, I'm glad you finally got to this point and I really hope it gets better from now on," Louis smiled gratefully, not being able to contain the brotherly love rushes he felt whenever he was having deep conversations with Liam. Couldn't be more thankful to have him in his life.

"Liam I... I felt it. The bond. I... I came to this realization one day and just couldn't hide it anymore. This is it, it's him," and he was glowing.

"That much?" Louis just nodded at that; eyes shining and filled with hope. And Liam just couldn't be sceptical anymore, he could see it in his eyes, it was like magic.

"My omega knew... you know they say that omegas find their mate. I did, Li,"

"I am happy for you, Lou. You deserve to be loved and protected more than anyone," and he couldn't avoid blushing at that, rejoicing in the fact that Liam was showing him support, though he knew how Liam really felt with the idea of him mating.

They finished their lunch and chatted about meaningless stuff, just as they used to do when Louis had to stay on campus for a while and they were far too tired to keep studying. They tried not to talk about anything work-related or love life-related because the only thing they needed to do was think and act like men and not actually worry about stuff, even if everything surrounding them was falling apart.

Louis left after a good hour of chatting, excusing himself on having to check on Eve. It wasn't an excuse actually, he had to. He would say he was even late. He knew she would be fine as long as she was in the SDU since there were enough doctors to perform whichever emergency procedure was needed, but still, he wasn't there and that was enough of a reason to be worried.

He got into their room and was greeted by a wide-awake Eve and a not so wide awake Harry, who was lying on the bed just beside her and was reading her a story. But even as tired as he was, Harry was filling his words with emotion and making surprised faces as the story went by. He had been away for one morning but he had missed them so much, missed the smell and comfort that room brought them. And surprisingly enough, it took just a couple of hours of being out of the room for it to slightly lose the hints of his own scent. It made him kind of sad.

Louis felt a warm flutter fill his heart up as he thought of the possibility of having that as his every day in some uncertain future, of waking up beside his mate every single day and smelling their mixed scents in their house. It'd feel like home.

Eve and Harry noticed him standing on the doorway and gave him a wide smile; Harry's having way more meaningful emotions and unsaid things buried between his lips than Eve's.

"Good afternoon," he greeted them cheerfully, stepping in and approaching them. "How are you feeling, sweetheart?" He asked, gesturing for Harry to leave him some space in the bed so he could sit on it, too.

"I'm better," She said simply. Still, having her there wasn't exactly a sign of her getting better. The NG tube had been glued to her right cheek with some tape and it just made her look so ill. "Tired," she added.

"I know," Louis said with a sympathetical smile, patting her leg lovingly. "It'll be over soon, dear," she smiled at him with nothing but trust and Louis gave her a bright smile back, one that reached his blue eyes. "Tell me, what were you two doing here?" Louis changes the subject, eyeing the book that was resting between Harry's hands; his thumb stopping a page from flipping.

"Daddy was reading me a book," Eve explained. "He does every day before I go to sleep,"

"Aw, that's sweet," Louis glanced at Harry, who was blushing already and hiding his smile with his lowered head. Louis' smile grew bigger at that and god, he felt like a teen. "Can I stay as well? Been a while since someone read a book for me," Eve nodded with excitement and placed herself comfortable in the bed and into Harry's arms.

They spent a nice part of the afternoon reading and chilling, exchanging smiles. Louis was really happy to see Eve in such a good mood and with more energy. She had been awake continuously for more than four hours, and that was a huge milestone considering that the most she had been awake since she got admitted had been not even an hour and a half. Louis was hoping that with the medication they had prescribed her and a little bit more time she would gain enough strength and vitality for the upcoming surgery.

No one could explain the warm fluttering inside their chests when spending time with the others. If it had to be associated with a word, it would be "right". It felt right to be together, to spend quality time like that. The feeling of belonging was overwhelming but so perfect.

Eventually, the little omega fell asleep, resting her head in Harry's chest, enjoying the warmth he was giving her in his embrace. It was expectable, she was worn out. Having her liver failing implied she had way more toxins in her blood than a healthy person, which made her body function irregularly. Louis was afraid that the number of toxins increased to the point of making her kidneys fail again, and that would be severely life-threatening, so he hoped that within this round of tests there would be the match they needed to proceed as quickly as possible.

"How was the shift?" Harry had asked after a short while of silence. It seemed that only being around Louis was enough for him to get blushed. Louis secretly loved that.

"Quite calm actually," he said. "Very few patients, minor stuff,"

"That's good, innit?"

"Yeah, the fewer things to do the better," Louis said, looking at his own entwined hands which were resting on his lap. "How was your morning?"

"Been reading a few stories, resting for a bit. Called Paul," he explained, stroking Eve's hair lightly. "He's really worried, told me he's been praying that there's a match in between those tests," he sighed, hoping for the same thing. He just couldn't stand seeing his daughter that ill and knowing he couldn't do anything about it.

"She deserves a chance to live a happy life," Louis commented, focusing his sight on her. Although she was slightly better, the yellowish colour of her skin and her weight loss were still telling otherwise. "And she will have that," he added finally, reassuring Harry once again.

"I'm feeling the need to thank you but I know you hate it when I start thanking you," Harry commented, making a smile appear in both of their lips.

"I do," they laughed slightly, releasing a little bit of the tension that had been surrounding them for a while now. It was nice to have someone to laugh something off in such a tense moment. "But do it if it makes you feel better. I'll have to learn how to deal with it," things had taken a turn, and even if Louis intended for it to be funny, Harry's semblance only got more serious.

"Thank you," he murmured a few seconds after, daring to look up at Louis's eyes and finding himself reflected in them; transparent. "I don't know where I'd be without everything you've done for me,"

"Anytime, Hazza,"

And Louis softened. He couldn't understand how this guy could make him feel like he did, complete, happy. It went further than who they were and the relationship they had had until then. It was meant to be, and he was so glad about it.

There was a knock on the door that pulled them away from the quiet environment they had created for themselves. Louis shouted a quick "come in," and a nurse stepped inside, with an expression of boredom.

"Doctor Tomlinson," she called, greeting Louis not so happily.

"Yes, ma'am?" Louis noticed the lack of amusement in the older lady, so instead of showing himself as a cheerful guy, he went for his polite and professional attitude.

"Kyle Adley has scheduled a meeting in the lab department to discuss the results of the blood test you've sent for... Eve Styles. He's requested that you, doctor Emanuel Richardson and the parents of the patient are there in fifteen minutes to discuss the details of the results," She read from the clipboard she was carrying, with no particular expression in her voice.

"We'll be there, thank you," she gave them a quick little nod. "Anything else?" Louis asked.

"No, sir," sir she answered expressionlessly.

Both of them watched the nurse leave the room after those two words, not leaving any room for Louis to thank her or something. She most likely hated her work or had had a bad day to be in such a bad mood.

"Do you know this Kyle?" Harry asked once he saw the woman walk away completely. Her face was intimidating, to say the least.

"Yes, he went to uni with me, at least on my first years or so. Different classes of course and all, but I can say I know him pretty well," Louis explained, seeing Harry's tense expression fade away.

"Nice," Harry just murmured, turning around to face Eve's sleeping semblance. "Do you know anyone nice that can stay with her while we go there? Don't want to leave her alone," he expressed, looking back at Louis.

"I can call Liam, my best friend. Not a nurse but I think he wasn't doing anything at the moment," Louis offered. He knew Harry wasn't sure about leaving Eve with a nurse he didn't know. He didn't know Liam that well either but being Louis' best friend made him trust a little bit more in the unknown man.

"Please, if it doesn't bother him," Louis nodded and picked up his phone, texting Liam quickly. After getting an affirmative response, Louis blocked his phone and left it on top of the bed.

They both waited for Liam to arrive, sitting in comfortable silence. Thankfully it had taken a little over five minutes for Liam to get to Eve's room, which both of them were thankful for. After some quick instructions about Eve's situation and what to do if she woke up, Louis and Harry left the room, leaving Liam on his own to stay with her. Louis was hoping the meeting wouldn't take that long so Eve wouldn't wake up to someone she didn't know.

The pair walked the long and wide aisles of the hospital, Louis taking the lead and Harry just following him, and after taking a few elevators they got to a calmer area where there weren't any patients. There were doctors and workers of every type and specialization, and the offices were for administrative purposes. Harry read a sign that said 'Lab department' and he just knew where he was.

They stopped in front of a double door, meeting with doctor Richardson and three men that neither of them knew of. Luckily the three other men were just humans or so-called betas, so no one but Emanuel actually sniffled the air.

"Hi Emanuel, thanks for coming," he greeted doctor Richardson, giving the three rather young men standing behind him a nod of recognition.

"Of course, Louis. Let me introduce you to doctor Jones, doctor Brown and doctor Millers," Louis did a handshake and exchanged professional smiles with each one of them while Emanuel talked, going from left to right. "They are three of the best surgeons I know and have already done several transplantation surgeries," Louis and Harry felt surer with that statement. "Do you know why I was asked to bring them? Kyle just told me to," Emanuel asked.

"I don't. He didn't say anything to me either," Louis said, stepping aside slightly so Harry could get into the now circle. "This is Harry Styles, father of the patient," Louis introduced him, to which Harry answered with three polite "Nice to meet you".

"Let's get in, shall we?" Louis suggested, knocking on the door without waiting for an answer and being met almost instantly with the face of Kyle Adley, also a beta, acquaintance he hadn't seen in a while.

"Louis, it's so nice to see you," they were met by a man of Louis' age, maybe a year or two older, with blonde hair and a nice, friendly smile.

"You too, Kyle. You look exactly the same, it's as if you hadn't aged," Harry was amazed at Louis' ability to talk and socialize. He couldn't stop looking at him, at the way his lips would curl up into a smile whenever he had to, he was just hypnotized. He kept talking and keeping up with them as if it were an informal gathering rather than a professional meeting. He just allowed Louis to introduce him to Kyle because he was just so lost into his cloud of thoughts that he wasn't able to. Everything in his head was a mixture between the nervousness of finding out if there was a match, Louis' overwhelming beauty and his own shyness whenever he had to meet new people. He was lost.

A few minutes of informal chattering had gone by before the seven of them sat down around Adley's desk with intentions of discussing what they came there to discuss. The office was just like any other one, perhaps a little bit larger and more personalized, but not enough to disguise the feeling of hospital room it gave Harry when he entered.

Louis' right hand searched for Harry's left one under the table, and once he found it he entwined their fingers, taking both hands to rest on his right thigh. It didn't feel weird or awkward to either of them, just natural and reassuring. Louis gave a small squeeze so Harry would know they were in this together, and Harry squeezed back. They both played attention at how, in complete silence, Kyle organized some folders and sheets placed on top of his desk, which probably contained the results from the tests run the day before. Louis felt anxious.

"Well, we're here to discuss the blood test results we got from Eve Styles' potential donors for liver transplantation, am I right?" Adley started, letting Harry and Louis feel how the air in the room became thicker and the nervousness started to kick in again, this time stronger. With a nod, Kyle proceeded. "You asked me to have them as quickly as I could and I did. Seems like a tough case," Louis nodded slightly, tugging at Harry's hand and having it squeezed back. It was like a cable to earth, like a lifeline. "I don't want to ramble for too long because I know you may feel nervous already, so I'll go straight to the point," He said, directing his words towards Harry. How thankful he was when he heard him say that. "Between the eleven people that were tested, we found one potential match that could perform an alive donor liver transplantation.

Louis and Harry felt as if they could breathe again after a really long period of time without doing so. Maybe they had been holding their breaths the entire time, who knows? Being honest, Louis didn't think they would find a match within the first round of testing, he was pretty positive it would take them at least three for them to find a decent match. He was, besides from relieved, surprised.

"There are actually two matches, but the first one is significantly higher than the other, so it's more likely to result in success if used," Kyle added, smiling at the faces Harry and Louis were pulling, of complete relief.

Louis and Harry mimicked the smile in the other's face, not being able to avoid it when such good news had been given. Their hands were now in the same exact position, but much more relaxed, which allowed them to feel even more comfortable with it.

"And who are they?" Harry asked, not being able to contain his excitement. His girl was going to be okay and he could only think about that and that only. Louis looked at Kyle, waiting for the same answer.

"The lowest one, with compatibility of 36.4 per cent is called Danielle Evens," Harry gasped, thinking of how odd it was that Danielle, out of all the people that got tested, was a match. Still, he was anxious to know about the one that was the most compatible since the surgery would be more prone to success if performed with that donor. "And the highest one, with compatibility of 98.7 per cent and the one I'd suggest performing the transplant with is... Louis Tomlinson?" Kyle read, and all the room fell into silence. Louis felt how the constant grip he had on his hand lost its strength, just as his own did. Even Kyle looked surprised. Everyone was just quiet, directing occasional glances at Louis.

Louis felt like a truck had run over him, even physically, albeit he wasn't completely surprised. It was like everything, after such good news, there's always something bad to happen. He had been praying for it to not be him, for it to be Harry or whoever that donated. It was just his luck, that after a less than a 9 per cent chance of it being him, it was him.

Later on, just a few seconds after, he felt the bucket of ice-cold water run over him. He was going to be the one opened up, the one that would save Eve's life. He was the highest match with an almost perfect percentage of compatibility. It was him, it had always been him. And of course, he would do it, a thousand times if needed.

"That's impossible," his rational side popped up, blocking up all of the first impression about the subject he had. "It should be Harry, he's her dad, that thing has to be wrong," and denial kicked in.

"Harry, although he's O RH positive blood, was not a match," Kyle explained. Harry's hand was still on Louis' but neither of them could feel the touch of the other. "Louis, you are the closest match, you know things like this can happen, it's rare but possible," Everything in Louis' head was screaming "shit"

Harry was just dead on silent, doing what to Louis looked like assimilating the fact that the man he was starting to have feelings for would go under the knife to save his daughter's life. He decided to just let him, but after a couple of seconds he chose to squeeze lightly the hand that was still on his, but absent. And as he expected, Harry didn't squeeze back. He knew how Harry felt about him being tested, he knew how much Harry didn't want it to be him. But now it was him and they would have to be strong enough to go through it. Louis knew he could help her, and he wouldn't stop until doing so.

After a couple of minutes of no one saying anything, Kyle spoke, directing his words towards Louis, breaking the ice that had frozen the entire room.

"Louis, I didn't know you had tested yourself," he said suggestively. He knew Kyle was trying to set that fact onto the table, to discuss its perks and disadvantages, but Louis just couldn't focus knowing practically everything that was going on through Harry's mind.

"Neither did I," Emanuel said, trying to start an actual conversation.

And then Louis saw one of the surgeons brought by Emanuel set his look into Louis and Harry's entwined hands, and literally saw the sentence form inside his head.

"Excuse me if I'm wrong, but isn't that unprofessional of you to donate to a patient? Besides, it looks like you wouldn't do it for just anyone," and the omega just lost it. Blame it on the cocktail of emotions going through his mind or his short temperament, but he snapped.

"And excuse me if I'm wrong but I think that what _I_ do or don't with my organs is none of your business," he said, emphasizing in the I. He felt Harry come back on himself when the smallest of tugs got to his hand, and he immediately turned around to find an expression of worry painting his face. With the reassurance of the hand holding his, he added: "And watch your mouth, I can get you out of here in the blink of an eye," The surgeon apologized with a look and immediately felt overpowered by Louis, being forced to leave the subject aside. "I did this because it felt right to do so, and honestly, I don't care about anything any of you may want to say. Being the closest match I'll donate part of my liver and that's it, that's the end of the discussion," everyone felt the power and authority on Louis' voice, so they choose not to argue with him or say anything about it.

Louis was well aware of the ethical failures his decision had, but it wouldn't make him step back. Eve needed him, and he promised her and Harry that she would be fine, so she will be fine. He is a man of his word, he never breaks his promises.

"If there's nothing else to say, please, I'd like to put an end to this meeting," Louis said, as serious and intimidating as he could sound. He was pissed off, to say the least. How come a completely unknown person would try to get into his own decisions? It was unacceptable.

"There is," Kyle hurried to say before Louis would just get up and leave. "I knew there was a match but I didn't know it was you. I asked doctor Richardson to bring three surgeons so we could start on the paperwork, consent forms, DNR's and schedule this surgery as quickly as possible given the urgency," Louis just nodded at Kyle and looked at the paper sheet Emanuel was handed. It was a form with all the details of the donor and the recipient that had to be filled up by Louis and signed by all the doctors in charge of the procedure. He handed Harry another one that Louis supposed it was one he had to fill up on behalf of Eve. "Please, doctor Richardson write your name and write down the names of the three surgeons that will be in the OR performing the procedure,"

"Emanuel, please, don't put doctor Brown in there. I don't want him to be involved in the procedure," Emanuel nodded and wrote down the third name of a surgeon Louis didn't know but was sure would be better than doctor Brown.

Louis was handed a third sheet he had to complete with all his information but it could be done afterwards, thankfully.

"Excuse me, but what does DNR stand for?" Harry finally spoke, trying to swallow the knot tied in his throat.

"Do not resuscitate. If the patient happens to die somehow, you refuse to any resuscitation method and or life support," Kyle explained and Harry just gave him the unsigned form, not wanting to even think about the fact that his baby could die. "Now, Harry, Louis, I need your signatures down here," Kyle added, pointing to blank spaces in the form that Emanuel had just filled up. Harry signed first, then Louis. "And here," and then again, they kept the same order. "With all this, doctor Richardson will have to go to the surgical ward and give these three forms and I don't think you'll have trouble with getting a date for the surgery. Hopefully, it can be done within this week,"

"Thank you so much, Kyle. Emanuel, would you mind coming to room 128 this evening to pick up our forms?" Louis asked politely, standing up and giving a handshake to Kyle and Emanuel himself, not dropping Harry's hand in the meanwhile.

"Of course, I'll go," Louis smiled genuinely to him and to two of the three surgeon present, ignoring completely the one who thought could tell him about the ethical issues of his own decisions.

"It was so nice to have this meeting with you. I have to go now, but it was a pleasure," Louis said, once again ignoring doctor Brown and he finally stepped out of the room, dragging Harry with him. It was only then when he realised how fast his heart was beating, maybe because of the excessive amount of emotions he hadn't given a thought to yet. Harry was in the exact same position.

"What the heck just happened in there?" Harry finally said something, looking at Louis directly into his eyes without losing the firm grip of his hand. Thankfully both of them were out of that room by then, which was very relieving. Still, Louis just wanted to rest his head on Harry's shoulder and cry, with all honesty.

"Let's go talk somewhere else, they'll be out any second," Louis dragged Harry out of the lab department once again, walking as fast as his short legs allowed him to, not stopping until they saw the sign of the pediatric SDU. They didn't even take the elevator to go upstairs, where the SDU was. Finally, they stopped, being just a few steps away from Eve's room. "I... I don't know what to say," Louis started, stepping in front of Harry and looking straight into the green of his eyes. He could tell Harry didn't even know where he was standing.

"Just... don't say anything," Harry asked, and suddenly Louis' eyes filled up with emotions of worry and empathy.

"I am so, so sorry, Harry," Louis saw how Harry's orbs filled up with tears, but his eyelids refused to let them out. "Neither of us wanted things to take this turn, but they did. We'll make it work, I promise,"

"How are you so sure? This is so fucked up. I can't let them cut you open for no reason,"

He wanted to yell at him, wanted to show him how mad he was that he had tested himself on in the first place. But on the other side, the only thing he wanted to do was hug him tight and never let go. He was very aware that having Louis go through this would be another obstacle to achieve a healthy and strong relationship between them, but at the same time, he was saving his daughter's life. He felt so torn, so vulnerable.

"Look, it isn't for no reason, it's for Eve's sake," Louis stated. "You know, the first thing they teach us in med school is that you should never promise a good outcome to the patients or the families. And I promised you one, and I'm sorry that I did. But I'm a man of my word, and if I promised that we'll get through this, we will, you hear me?" Harry nodded to that, feeling subdued by the strength in Louis' voice. "I will do everything in my power to save her, I give you my word," Harry nodded again, letting his mind be embraced by Louis' voice and words.

"I don't deserve you," Harry stated, voice low and eyes settled on his boots.

"Please, let's not start with this again. You do, and you know that,"

Louis was interrupted mid-sentence by the annoying beeping of his pager, but he looked at it only after seeing the shade of a smile on Harry's lips. And when he looked at it, he wished he had looked sooner. Eve's room was paging 911, which meant the worst kind of emergency was happening in there. Just behind them a couple of feet away, the red light above Eve's door was flickering. This was really happening, a life-threatening situation, Eve was fighting on there.

And Louis just ran, and Harry went behind him.

The three seconds it took him to get there were filled with immense amounts of worry and uncertainty, while all the possible causes were flashing through his mind, each one worse than the last one.

"What's wrong?" He asked, clearly scared but analyzing the situation still. Eve was hunching over herself, with a tray underneath her chin and was puking an enormous amount of blood, dark and red. Everything was a mess, her gown, the bedsheets. She had thrown up her NG tube and it resided scrunched up in the bed, and everyone in there was just panicking. Louis could only worry and Harry could only freak out.

"She called for a glass of water and when I got here she started to throw up blood. It's been a little bit over a minute since she started. I paged you and Dr Richardson" the nurse explained, also splattered with blood.

"Well done. Vitals?"

"BP's low, 85 over 60. Heart rate at about 108. Body temperature 38.2 degrees"

Louis tried to get out of his worry, out of his personal worry. Eve was way too close to him, so was Harry, so acting professionally had become practically impossible. Thankfully, acting as if she were any other patient and isolating the situation happening right there from his feelings towards her helped a lot.

He approached the bed and examined her. It seemed like she was stopping gradually, but every now and then a wave of nausea would hit her and she would puke again. To his medical eye, she would have to get surgery faster than anticipated.

"Bring in an ultrasound," he asked, and the nurse signalled an intern that happened to be there to go get one. Two more residents were watching the scene.

"What's going on?" Harry asked, tears running down his cheeks and desperation painting his whole face. He had tried to reach for the bed, get close to his daughter but one of the residents didn't allow him to do so. And he was fighting, hard. Luckily the other guy was also an alpha so he was offering enough resistance.

"Somebody get him out of here," Louis asked no one in particular, only focusing on Eve and trying to figure out what was wrong.

"I'm not going anywhere!" Harry exclaimed, being held back by that same resident, acting like the out of control alpha he had never been.

"Harry, please, let me help her. She'll be fine," Louis said without actually looking at him.

"Please..." the father begged.

"Haz," Louis turned around and faced him. "She will be okay. This does no good to you, wait outside please," Harry seemed to listen, and was rushed outside by the resident that could not get him out by his own means.

An intern walked in with an ultrasound machine and Dr Richardson behind him just as Harry left the room. The semblance of the older doctor was filled with worry.

"What's the situation?" Emanuel asked, approaching Louis and trying to understand as much as possible.

"She's puking blood," Louis said. "Vitals are stable"

"Ultrasound," Emanuel asked and, as if he knew what he was looking for, he placed the wand of the ultrasound up in the middle of her stomach, just at the pit of it. The puking had calmed down slightly enough to get her into a sitting position. "Right there" he announced. "There's a rupture on the portal vein. She may be bleeding out, we have to go in," and Louis felt a shiver run down the back of his spine. When he assumed that the surgery would be done sooner than expected, he didn't think it would be that soon.

"Now?" Louis asked.

"Right now. Prepare her for surgery," He directed himself to the residents. "She's too weak to handle anaesthesia twice, so we'll do the transplant now, Louis, you have to go prepare, have you signed the forms?" Louis shook his head, walking to the desk so he could sign them right there. He did so and handed them over to Emanuel, who put them into Eve's chart. "Hurry up, see you in the OR" everything was so rushed, it was catatonic.

Louis ran out of the room, finding immediately a very worried Harry that was pacing around, almost crying. Harry grabbed him by his shoulders, stopping him from going to admissions and getting himself prepared for surgery.

"How is she?" Harry practically screamed, looking at him deeply into his blue eyes. His fear could be all across the aisle.

"Calm down, Harry. Breathe," Louis grabbed him back, forgetting about his own nervousness in order to calm Harry down. "Everything will be fine, I promise," Harry took a deep breath, only to let out a loud sob and, following it, all the tears he had been holding.

"What's wrong?" he asked, trying to calm down but finding it impossible. Heartache was taking over him, drowning him.

"Her portal vein is torn." Harry shivered. "They have to go in surgically to fix it, or else it can worsen and she can bleed out," And now he was actually trembling. "Because she's too weak to handle anaesthesia twice, we are doing the transplant tonight," His ears couldn't believe what they were being told.

"Shit..." just as he was able to mumble out one word, the doors of the room behind them opened, and the interns and a nurse were taking the bed away, with a very worried Eve sitting on top.

Both, Louis and Harry, tried to chase the bed, but only Louis was able to get close to it. He just forgot about Harry, who was looking at the scene from afar, with tears running down his cheeks.

"What's wrong? I want daddy," Eve mumbled, taking off her breathing mask but letting it fall back on.

"Darling, we found a liver that looks just like yours. We are gonna fix it with that, okay?" Louis spoke, finding his way beside the bed and waking fast to keep the pace, holding Eve's hand. She was getting weaker, vitals becoming increasingly alarming. "I'm going to be there with you when you fall asleep and when you wake up, I promise," Eve just nodded as the whole medical team entered the surgical wing. They had booked an OR already and only had to wait for doctor Richardson and the on-call general surgeon to start the procedure.

The whole group entered the OR and Eve was transferred from her bed to the table carefully, while new staff that was already there started setting everything up. Louis was stopped for a couple of seconds to put on some sterile scrubs, cap and latex gloves, as well as a mask to cover up his nose and mouth. If Eve had the energy, she would have screamed through the twenty seconds it took Louis to do so.

"I'm here, love, I won't leave," he reassured her, stroking her forehead carefully. The intubation tray was right beside the table and the anesthesiologist was ready to put her down. Everybody was ready to begin and were all looking at Louis. "Darling, look at me and only me, okay?" she nodded. "Now, this guy here is my friend, and he's going to pass through your IV a liquid that gives you the best dreams ever, okay? Then he will switch your breathing mask and you will just fall asleep. I promise that when you wake up all this pain will be over. I'm right here, and I'll hold your hand through it all," she nodded weakly and Louis gestured to the anesthesiologist to start. "You will be fine, I love you, sweetheart," she gave him a tiny smile as the anaesthesia was starting to kick in. Finally, the anesthesiologist changed her breathing mask and, just like that, she fell asleep, looking like an angel.

Louis was kicked out of the OR almost immediately after Eve fell asleep. He knew he had to rush to admissions and do all the paperwork rather quickly. It was then, just behind the door that said 'only authorized personnel' that he saw Harry. And he was just completely broken, tearing apart.

He approached him and took off as much of the garments he was put on as he could, greeting him with pity on his eyes.

"Please, tell me she's fine," Harry begged once he was out of the surgical wing.

"They just started," he commented, closing the door behind him. "She will be just fine, come here," he opened his arms and a very unstable Harry collapsed into them, crying his guts out.

"I'm so scared," he mumbled in between sobs.

"I know, but you have to be strong. She needs you, and so will I," Louis said firmly, holding his own tears and hugging Harry closer. "We will all be fine, you'll see,"

"I need to get my shit together," Harry said, and Louis could only let out a small cackle, making Harry follow him with one of his own.

"Yes, you do," he pulled away, connecting their glances so it would feel soothing. It did. "Now, I have to get admitted and I doubt you want to be alone right now, so come with me and stop whining, big boy,"

"I'll try," Harry said unsure, but following him still. He was anxious about the couple of hours he would have to be completely on his own, but as Louis said, he had to be strong for both of them. And he wouldn't let Louis down, not after all that he's done for them.

-  
 _Word count: 867_ _1_


	16. Chapter XIV

Louis felt numb, literally. He had no control whatsoever on his body, and he was actually annoyed at that. He wanted to wake up but he was way too drowsy and relaxed to do so as if someone were pulling on him to get him back to unconsciousness, but he fought against it. 

Slowly but surely, and one by one, his senses started to come back and he started to identify his surroundings. First, the smell. He was so used to the smell of hospitals that he almost missed the faint trace of alcohol mixed with medications and antiseptics that were filling the room. He also smelled a familiar scent, of an alpha, that managed to make him feel calm and soothed. Then he felt a weight on his left hand, and it didn't take long for him to realise it felt as if someone were holding his hand. He did his best to squeeze that hand slightly, and fortunately, it was enough for the owner of said hand to pay attention to him. 

"Lou?" And then, when he heard Harry's voice, everything seemed to fall back into place. 

Harry, on the other side, had gone through a living hell a couple of hours earlier. He isn't sure how much time it actually was, but he hated every single second of it. As far as he knew Eve was still in surgery. Doctors only came out to update him twice since the surgery started and that was killing him, anxiety was eating him alive. The second time they updated him, they came out of the OR with a sedated Louis and they answered just because he went straight up and asked and they only said that it would take a while to get the graft transplanted into Eve, also that she was stable. They recommended him to go check on Louis since he could wake up at any time and just wait for answers. So unhelpful. 

He followed the medical advice though, and while asking every nurse that came in Louis' room to keep him posted about the surgery, he kept him company. 

It was then that Louis' eyes opened, slowly and as if little weights had been attached to his eyelashes. Focusing his eyesight was practically impossible, as everything was way too bright and white. He shot his eyes closed once again and squeezed Harry's hand as he tried to stretch and he immediately regretted it; a wave of pain hit him right in the upper portion of his stomach, deep into his tissues. A frown painted his face with said pain, and he wanted to whine but he was only able to open his mouth.

"Hey" he heard how Harry greeted him and he tried to do his best to open his eyes again, although he saw four Harrys right at the beginning. His drowsy mind thought he must have been in paradise. 

"Hey" finally, his throat was able to make out a word. Harry's face was painted with a small smile that he was able to actually see. 

"How do you feel?" he heard him ask. 

"Thirsty... and stupid" and oh boy, the anaesthesia mixed in with the painkillers inhibited almost completely his common sense. He wouldn't trust his brain to mouth filter normally, but now the mind was the issue. 

"Why stupid?" Harry asked as he handed him a glass of water with a straw. 

"I don't know" his common sense, wherever it was, thought future Louis would regret almost everything he said in that state. "Thank you" he mumbled with a small smile after sipping lightly on the water. "What time s'it?" he asked, as he realised that it was pretty late. 

"Almost midnight, you've been out for like half an hour," Harry said as he checked his clock. 

"And Eve?" Right then, Louis looked into Harry's eyes and could only think about how pretty they were. He felt drunk. 

"Still in surgery" 

"Good" somewhere in his mind, Louis' common sense was facepalming. 

Louis looked away, getting lost in the simplicity of his room. He was at the recovery ward, which was conveniently close to the surgical ward, all into the surgical wing of the hospital. Not that he was able to identify his surroundings, even if he could see past the front wall. He looked down at himself then, finding his chest barely covered by a hospital gown and filled up with electrodes, and it was only then that he noticed the annoying noises the heart rate monitor was making right beside his bed. He also had an IV on his right arm, with its respective pump which was dripping with who knows what, and also a cannula delivering oxygen up his nose. He took that one away, finding it pretty uncomfortable. He was pretty bundled up since he had a blood pressure armband on his right arm and a clamp on his left index finger. 

When Harry saw him look away, he sat down on his chair and took Louis' left hand into his once again, caressing his knuckles softly, being absent as well. Both of them needed support, and that was the closest thing to it they could get at the moment. 

A nurse entered the room once he saw that Louis was awake. He was a rather pretty boy on his early to mid-twenties, dark-haired, with a tan. A gorgeous emerging alpha. He seemed from another country even. Louis wondered where he was from. 

"Hi Louis, I'm Ethan, I'm the night shift nurse, nice to meet you" he walked in with Louis's chart on hand, reading it to get an idea of what his situation was. Luckily he was professional enough not to check Louis out, or anyone for that matter while working. He didn't sound foreign, so Louis just thought he was a beautiful man blessed with a tan in London. Louis took the hand he was offered, giving it a small handshake. 

"Hi, I'm Louis," he said, holding back a giggle. He liked this guy's scent, though Harry's was a thousand times better. 

"Yes, I know" Ethan answered back, smiling lightly. He had a nice smile, Louis could observe. 

"I'm Harry" Harry interceded, exchanging a small handshake with the smiley nurse and marking his territory. He looked at him directly in the eye, threatening even. And he decided he didn't like that guy when, seeing his reaction, he diverted his glance towards Louis's neck, checking on the lacking of a bite mark and smiling amusedly. "Any news on Eve Styles' surgery?" he asked as politely as he could, boiling with jealousy. Forgive him but if a growl managed to escape his throat he wouldn't even apologize. 

"Only that she's stable" Harry nodded, thanking him with the shadow of the falsest smile ever. "Well, Lou, any pain, discomfort or anything?" Louis simply shook his head, but then he hesitated. Harry didn't like that this guy called his Lou 'Lou'.

"Only when I move" he added. 

"Well, that's normal," he said with a smile Harry was growing to despise. "You can ask for stronger painkillers if it gets intolerable" Louis nodded and then smiled dumbly. 

"Yeah, I should know that" he giggled slightly. 

"Anything feeling weird with the incision?" Louis thought about it, releasing Harry's hand to gesticulate. 

"A little bit tight only" Ethan nodded and approached the bed, getting some antiseptic and latex gloves from a dispenser on the wall. He cleaned his hands and put the gloves on, approaching Louis' right side this time. 

"Mind if I check?" Louis shook his head. 

"Not at all, check everything you want" was Harry blind or he just saw Louis give him a wink? He was hoping for the first one because he just couldn't stand being in that room. 

He understood he was being childish, but when his place in Louis' life as a possible mate was threatened, he just felt in need to protect it, to protect him from any other alpha that may want to approach. He was just letting his instincts win him over. 

Ethan gave a loud cackle and proceeded to lift Louis' hospital gown, careful of leaving his legs and crotch covered. He carefully removed the bandages that were put on the wound and took a look at it. It wasn't pretty, at all. The incision extended all over Louis' upper abdomen horizontally, and a second incision went vertically through the middle and up to his chest, stopping right before hitting his breastbone. It was all stitched up, it also had some staples here and there, and it was looking pink and fresh. Underneath the horizontal incision there was a tube attached to a draining bag and it was draining some weird coloured liquids. And Harry wanted to gag but then he remembered that such scar was there because Louis saved his daughter's life. 

"It's looking pretty normal considering the surgery was done just a couple of hours ago. If it hurts or the discharge of the draining bag turns yellow or white, call immediately" Ethan instructed them, but only Harry seemed to be paying attention to the words he was saying rather than his looks. 

"Be sure I will" Louis said nonchalantly as the nurse stitched the bandages back on the wound. 

"I'll check on you later" he said, smiling big. 

"Bye bye!" Louis even gestured with his hand. "Handsome!" they heard the nurse laugh before he left the room, leaving them both alone. Harry's face was a poem. 

"Louis, what the fuck was that?" he asked, horrified. 

"What? He's pretty, are you gonna tell me he's not?" he said, still with that drunk smile painted on his lips. 

"He's a nurse!" Harry half exclaimed. He didn't want to be too loud in case there were other patients in the ward that could be disturbed. He just couldn't believe this boy, and he honestly would laugh at the situation if he hadn't felt actually threatened. Still, he quite liked this drunk Louis, if this was what he looked like with a couple of drinks on he would have to drunken him up rather often. 

"So what? He was handsome" Louis insisted, breaking down the last word into syllables. Harry just shook his head with a hand covering up his eyes. 

"You are from another world, honestly" Harry allowed himself to let out a small smile, not being able to hold it in anymore. 

"Honey, that's not brand new information" he was just hilarious. Harry pulled his curls back and approached the bed with chair and everything. "You know?..." he proceeded, "I will not be held accountable for any word that comes out of my mouth while on this state" he crossed his arms over his chest, being careful of not brushing his wound and trying for it to be not painful. 

"Oh! So you admit you're basically drunk and that you just flirted with a nurse in front of me?" Harry's eyes were defiant, and he was basically putting aside all of the drama his family was going through and just having a laugh with this over medicated Louis. He just forgot about the pain for that moment. 

"So what if I did? Are you jealous?" Louis was as quirky as Harry had ever seen him before, and he had to say he liked this side of him a lot. 

"Me? Please..." and the truth was that he was, deeply. He never thought about the possibility of Louis having another wolf, and that was rather threatening at some level. He didn't really like that idea. 

"You sure? Not even just a little bit?" Louis gesticulated with his fingers, putting thumb and index pretty close together and pulling a face. "What if I could stand up and go after him, hug him from behind..." and Louis was going to continue but a low growl of possesiveness interrupted him. Harry blushed slightly, aware that he had put such a claim on the omega. "You are!" Louis exclaimed as if he had just discovered it, and Harry was rather quick to cover his mouth with one of his hands to keep him from yelling, hand that Louis licked to get rid of. Both of their eyes were shining with a layer of amusement and other emotions, looking deep into the others. "You are" Louis reaffirmed himself on a lower volume just after Harry took his hand off of his mouth. 

"I'm not" he refuted, but in all honesty, no one could believe him. Not after such growl. 

"Well, in case you were, I'd suggest you start moving y'know. You're not the only one in the line" Harry growled again, not being able to control it. He proceeded to blush; a deep shade of red creeping up his neck and covering his cheeks almost completely. He couldn't believe that the Louis he knew was saying all those things. "Let's do this, once we're out of the woods we'll go have dinner together" Louis suggested, and Harry almost choked on his own saliva. There was no doubt that Louis was out of this world. 

"As in a date?" he asked, not believing what he was hearing. 

"Yeah. Think about it, you and me, fancy suits, fancy place, talking about fancy stuff. Sounds good, doesn't it?" he wanted to laugh so hard. 

"You are drunk in meds, you don't know what you're talking about" he refuted, talking with a smile on his face. It actually hurt from how bad he was smiling, honestly, he felt like a teen being asked out for prom. 

"Well, that may be true" both of them laughed at that. "But just think about it and tell me what you decide when I wake up, I'm off to sleep again" he announced, turning his head to his right and smiling dumbly. 

"Yeah, you should do that" Harry giggled a bit and took a hold on Louis left hand once again, squeezing it slightly. "Good night Lou" and right then he felt the urge to leave a kiss on Louis' forehead and he wanted to stop himself right at the thought. 

But watching how Louis smiled sweetly before closing his eyes made it physically impossible. So he stood up from the chair he was sitting in and planted the softest kiss on the omega's forehead, tugging slightly at his hand also. 

"G'night Haz" and Louis had really liked that demonstration of affection. 

-

The next time Louis woke up, he did it with a much more clear mind but feeling way worse. He had had some weird dreams while he was under the anesthesia, but the pain he was feeling all over his stomach and chest overbore the thought of them. He also noticed he was in a normal room, so he supposed he might have woken up in the recovery ward and because of it he was brought down to a normal room. Not that he remembers being awake in the recovery ward, but that had to be what happened. Also, he noticed it was rather early in the morning, and as he checked the clock on the wall he learned that it was quarter to seven. 

"Good morning you twat" he heard a pretty known voice say on his left, just as Liam approached his bed. 

"Hey!" Louis said, as cheerful as he could but wincing at the pain. It was as if someone were stabbing him all over his chest and abdomen, it hurt horribly. "You don't get call me twat, you twat" Liam smiled widely at his friend, who still looked sleepy. 

"I do get to call you twat. How come you did all this and didn't even think about telling me?" now Liam's semblance was of worry, leaving the initial cheerfulness aside. He was just so protective of him. 

"I told you I tested myself" Louis refuted, wanting to hold his middle riff so badly because of the pain. He looked up to see which painkillers were in the IV pump but then he realised he didn't have his contacts on and he couldn't even distinguish the IV bags. 

"Yeah, you did, but there are a couple of steps from that to donating half of your liver. Steps that you forgot to mention" Liam was holding Louis' decision of donating his liver up against him, he didn't think it was fair, but inconveniently his pain was taking up his whole mind at the moment. "First of all, how are you feeling?" Liam asked this time, switching his expression to a nicer, softer one. 

"Like crap" he answered, wincing again. Even breathing was difficult. "Can you call a nurse please?" Liam nodded and went out of the room to call the said nurse, and he got back in a couple of minutes later followed by one. 

"Hi Louis" she greeted him. She was pretty young omega, in her mid-twenties Louis would say, and she seemed to be really nice, luckily. "I'm Faith, nice to meet you. What's wrong?" she said politely. 

"I'm in a lot of pain," he said simply, scrunching up his face once again. Normally he considers himself someone who can handle pain, but that was clearly too much. 

She approached the IV pump and checked both of the bags that were hung to it. She changed the settings on the machine and stepped aside. 

"You were on a low dose. I increased it a little and you should be feeling better in a couple of minutes" she smiled nicely. 

"Thank you so much," Louis said, smiling back. "By the way, which drug is it? I can't read it from here" he said. The nurse looked at him differently, and as she double-checked the bag she answered. 

"Methadone 500 mills" she answered, writing it down on his chart. 

"And how many mills per hour?" he asked again, trying to track his own medication somehow. He would always do so on all the few times he was admitted to the hospital. 

"Thirty. Are you a doctor or nurse, or something?" she was back with her warm smile. "Not all my patients ask about this"

"We are, yes. I'm a paediatrician and my friend here is an Ob/Gyn" Louis explained, starting to feel slightly better. 

"Liam Payne, nice to meet you" Liam offered his hand to do a handshake and Faith took it, feeling slightly under pressure now because her patient was a doctor himself. Forgive her, she's new to the job. 

"Wait, are you Louis Tomlinson as in, Mark Tomlinson's son?" she asked again as she associated his last name to the head of the hospital. 

"Yes I am," Louis said simply. 

"And what are you doing here? If you don't mind me asking" she grabbed the chart she had left at the end of the bed, getting ready to leave. 

"I guess you can just read my chart," he said, with a sassy tone painting his voice. 

"I will. Do you need anything else?" she asked politely. 

"Actually yes, can you find me any information about Eve Styles? She's probably at the PICU, for liver transplantation surgery" Louis asked, remembering suddenly the whole reason why he was in a hospital bed. 

"Sure. Press the button if you need anything else" Louis nodded at that and after a couple of seconds, she left the room, leaving Louis and Liam alone again. 

"Liam, have you heard from Harry? Have you seen him?" 

"Nope. I got here at six and you were alone. A nurse was checking your vitals though" he answered, moving himself and the chair closer to Louis' bed. "He's probably down at the PICU with Eve" he suggested. 

"Sure, you're right," Louis said, trying to lay more comfortably on his bed but also trying to avoid the pain he would get when doing so. 

"Now that I know you feel decent and you are alive, mind if I ask what the fuck happened?" 

"Kind of a long story..." Louis tried to avoid it, he really tried to. It was in times like this that Liam acted more like his partner than his best friend, and he still hadn't decided if he liked that or not. 

"How convenient it is that I cancelled all my appointments in the morning just so you could tell me" Louis felt trapped. 

"You did that?" he asked back, trying to push the topic aside. 

"Wouldn't you cancel all your appointments if you came to work, asked for me and someone told you I was admitted?" and yes, he would have done the same for him. 

"You have a point right there"

"Now, care to explain?" Liam asked impatiently. 

"Well, yesterday we got the results of the testing we did, to find a match. And there was this other lady from Harry's workplace that was a match, with I don't know, less than forty per cent" he started explaining, careful of his own breathing to avoid feeling pain. "And then there was me, with over ninety-seven per cent. You should have seen the faces of the people that were in the meeting with us" Liam was surprised, to say the least. 

"That high?" Louis nodded. 

"Yeah, I still can't believe it. Well, then Harry and I agreed that I should donate since with me she would accept the graft and everything, and when we got back to the room she was puking bright red blood. Turns out she had a tear on her portal vein and was bleeding out, so to avoid putting her under twice they did everything yesterday" he explained, simplifying the story quite a bit. "And here I am" 

"Wow, that's... a lot. What a day you've been through" Liam said, still trying to digest what Louis told him. Everything had happened so fast that it was difficult to understand to Louis himself. 

"Tell me!" he exclaimed, feeling slightly happy. That was what pain medication did to him, leave him content. "I'm glad it's over and we should be fine so, I did the right thing, no one can change my mind." he felt happy overall, happy that little Eve would be fine. 

"You got me thinking... isn't that kind of match supposed to happen within close relatives?" Liam wondered, actually out of his area of knowledge. 

"Yeah, but I think it can happen with random people also. We just got lucky it was me" he answered. 

"What if... no, that'd be impossible" he wondered again, or tried to. He tried to erase that thought from his mind, thinking it would be too difficult. "Actually, do you know if there's a Styles branch on your family? Maybe you're relatives at some point" he suggested, trying to find a reason for the match to be so high. 

"Don't think so... no. That'd be weird though" Louis answered, actually being interested in Liam's point of view. It's too much of a coincidence to be that close of a match with a person you've known for more than five years, practically impossible. 

"And on Eve's mum side? Do you know anything about them?" Liam asked, trying to make that hypothesis work somehow. 

"I know Eve was born from a female, but no, Harry never talks about her. She died giving birth I think" Louis was considering that maybe that woman had something to do with his family, maybe she was a lost cousin of his and that was why he and Eve were so close of a match. But still, if that were the case, there's no way the match would have been so high, that would explain 25 per cent of compatibility or even less. "This is so weird, why are we talking about this?" Louis asked, suddenly wanting to leave the subject aside. There was something in it that he didn't like at all. 

"Wait. How old is Eve?" Liam asked; the first suspicion he had was popping back into his head, although it made almost no sense. 

"Five, why?" Liam took a deep breath in. 

"And when was her birthday?" he asked again, hoping he would hear any number other than the one on his head just so he could leave the subject aside and forget about it. 

"April 28th," Louis asked, looking at him weirdly. He liked this even less now that he didn't have an idea of what was going through the alpha's mind. 

"2011?" Liam asked again, and Louis really didn't want to have that conversation, for whatever reason. 

"Yes...? Can you explain to me what's going on in your mind? I swear I don't understand you" he asked, clearly worried and not liking where this was heading. 

"Olivia's birthday" Liam mumbled, and the omega wasn't even sure if he had heard him or not. "She was born on Olivia's birthday," Liam said, this time way clearer. Louis swallowed a lump in his throat. 

"Yes Liam, I know that. I've always known that" Louis stated, getting worried about it. There was something that felt off in his chest, and it had to do with that conversation, he was positive. "Where do you want to get with all of this?"

"Have you ever thought about the possibility of Eve... being Olivia?" and Louis could feel his gut getting tenser, and not from the surgery, from what he had just heard. 

He never actually thought about it. Yes, he imagined his life mated with Harry, them living happy and healthy, but never as if Eve were his. He just grieved the loss of his daughter as he could, and it had taken him five years, but ever since he got over it he stopped thinking about the possibility of ever finding her. She was dead, his sister Georgia had been there to tell him so, they even made a funeral. Never, in a million years, would that happen, would that be possible. 

"Have you lost your mind?" he asked back, so emotionally hurt that it even felt physical. "Olivia is gone, Liam, there's no more conspiring about it" he started; an emotional breakdown threatening to form. "For god's sake we even had a funeral!" he exclaimed, getting actually mad. The only thing that stopped him from yelling higher was the fact that every time he tensed his stomach his muscles would hurt horribly. "Believe me when I say that I would be the happiest ever if I had my little girl back, God... she was my daughter. But I will not even think about this, this is just crazy!" he just couldn't believe it. "It doesn't make any sense" 

"It does!" Liam refuted, finding more arguments to fight over this. To his mind it wasn't that crazy, it could have happened. "Was Olivia alive when she was born?" Louis doubted it, not wanting to answer. That argument was pulling out deep emotions he hadn't felt in a while, and he didn't really want to feel them again. 

"You know I don't remember anything about it" he mumbled low, trying to stay as calm as possible. That wouldn't do well to his recovery. 

"Try to," Liam defied him. 

"Liam... it hurts, I don't want to," he pleaded, really not wanting to live that traumatic moment back. 

"Louis... can you please put some logic into this? Things like this can happen, not all the time, but they do. Fuck, even I think this is nuts, but it could have happened. We're just cleaning out our minds from any doubt" Louis was now shaking his head, with tears threatening to run through his cheeks, and really wanting to change the subject. 

"I can't!" he yelled, letting the first tear run down his cheek. This would wreck him, he was sure about that.

"Yes, you can" Liam insisted, taking Louis' left hand into his and squeezing it to give him some support. After all, they were best friends and they would be still after all this argument was over. 

And suddenly, and as if a wave had just hit him, he was reliving the moment that he gave birth to his little girl on that dirty bathroom. Everything felt so real, so vivid. He was lying on that floor again, only this time he could notice how cold it was. He was resting himself into one of the girls that helped him go through that, and he could swear he was living it again. The only difference though, was that he felt no pain whatsoever. He could hear the woman settled between his legs shouting, telling him to keep going, to keep pushing her out, he even remembered her telling him his baby had a lot of hair. And then, after a couple of pushes and some intense stares, he felt how his baby's body left his. 

And he heard her cry, loudly and strong. 

He felt how she was put on his chest and covered with a white towel, still crying her lungs out. He saw her hairy head and smiled, but when he tried to see her face he just couldn't. It was completely blurred, he could only see her head. He remembered giving her his finger to grab onto and she did, tightly. And then everything just faded away. 

Back into reality, he was crying his lungs out feeling terribly physically and mentally. Remembering that just wrecked him, it destroyed him, broke him into thousands of pieces. Now with that memory out, being able to remember how the delivery was, he just couldn't get that image out of his head, the sound of her crying, the hold she took on his finger. Everything was too much, way too much. 

"She... she was alive, Liam, she... she cried and she held onto my finger, she was strong" Louis cried out, looking deep into Liam's eyes. He just got up from the chair and went straight to hug his friend, letting him cry out, but careful not to make him feel any more pain than the one he was into. 

"I knew you could do it" he mumbled as Louis kept crying. He stroked his arms slightly, patting him as lovingly as he could. "We need to find more answers, to..." Louis just went ahead and interrupted Liam before he could keep on rambling. 

"No. I don't want any of that. I don't want to talk about this ever again, is that okay Liam?" he asked, trying to stop the crying. 

"But..." he tried to say something back, but Louis interrupted him once again. He had the right to do so. 

"I don't want to feel this pain ever again. You never lost a child, it's awful. So let me grieve and move on please" he asked, looking again into his eyes. "This thing with Eve was just a coincidence, nothing more, don't get so worked up. I'm begging you, please, just leave this aside" Liam nodded, still buried in the hug, but just until Louis winced and he broke it off to make sure he was okay. 

"Sorry for making you talk about this all, I shouldn't have done that" he apologised. and was met by a tiny smile on Louis' lips. 

"It's okay, just don't do it again" Liam nodded again and gave a tiny smile back to his best friend. He had messed up, he knew that, but their friendship would always be stronger and would always come first. 

They spent the rest of the morning together, even until it was almost noon. Louis' breakfast arrived at eight and he just ate with Liam, trying to keep the tense atmosphere away and talking only about everything else. They didn't mention Harry or Eve whatsoever, but still, the preoccupation about her persisted into Louis' heart. He should have had an update at least, Harry should have called him. 

Harry gets in the room at half-past eleven, finding the pair of best friends laughing at something and Louis holding his stomach so it would hurt less. He smiled immediately, just as their states fell into him. 

"Hi" Louis mumbled, having tears around the corners of his eyes from laughing so much. 

"Hi Lou, how do you feel?" he asked, approaching the bed. It was as if he wanted to be worried about him, and he was until he saw him laughing. He just needed reaffirmation on Louis' well being to be completely sure. "Hi Liam" he greeted Liam as well, and he got a nice smile as a greeting from him. 

"In pain if I move, but overall decent" Louis answered, calming down his laughing. "How's Eve? How was the surgery?" he asked, trying to relieve a little bit of the worry he was carrying. "You got me worrying since I woke up"

"The surgery went well, minor complications. They will have her in an induced coma to ensure that her new liver is working properly and adapts to her body, or that's what they told me. She's in the PICU" Louis could tell he wasn't happy about the coma, but he could see the relief written all over his face now that the surgery was over. 

"Oh, finally. You'll see that in three days she will be awake and recovering." Harry smiled lightly, hoping that Louis' prediction was accurate. 

"Mind if I stay? I got practically kicked out of the PICU for staying for too long" he said lightly, not too happy, not too sad and surely not comfortable. It had something to do with the other alpha's presence probably. 

"Sure, make yourself at home," Louis said, even to the point of patting the right side of his bed so he could join him. Liam looked at him pretty surprised but chose to make no comment about it. As much as he didn't like the idea of his Louis mating an alpha, he had to let it go. They would probably mate when all the chaos was over, and he had to adapt to that idea and let them be. 

"Well, I think I might leave now" he stated. "Harry, can you stay all afternoon? If you can't I can change my consults to be here" he proposed, not wanting to leave Louis alone. He would either be with Liam or Harry while he was admitted. 

"Yeah. I don't think I'll go down again, a nurse down at the PICU gave me this..." he pulled out something that looked like a pager from his pocket, but both Liam and Louis knew it wasn't. "In case something happens they'll tell me through here"

"Hey, look at you! Looking like a doctor with that pager and all" Harry smiled shyly, not sure if Louis was still drunk in meds or not. 

"Lou, call me if you need anything, or if anything happens," Liam said, approaching Louis' bed and leaving a kiss on his forehead, under Harry's intense stare. They were really close friends, and he couldn't help it but feel threatened. "Bye Harry" he added, smiling politely. 

Both of them said "Bye Liam" at the exact same time, and laughed a little as Liam left the room. Now they were alone, and Louis didn't know why but suddenly the atmosphere got tenser. 

"I'm so glad that the surgery went well, for everyone" Louis mentioned, scooting to his left side as slowly as he could, close to the IV pole, so if Harry wanted to lay down with him he could. 

"So am I, really happy," Harry said still standing at the end of the bed. He looked slightly off to Louis' opinion as if he wanted to say something but he didn't. "And once again, thank you so so much for doing this for us, you really saved my family" Louis smiled genuinely at that, blushing slightly. 

"You don't have to thank me Haz, I'm here to help, in any way or form" Louis answered, feeling uncomfortable on the bed as he spoke. "Haz, could you help me sit a little? I'm pretty uncomfortable" he commented then, hoping Harry would help him because he was afraid it would hurt too much doing it on his own. Being still and having the pain meds on made him forget about how bad it could be if he moved. 

"Sure, what do I do?" he asked, approaching the bed on its right side. 

"Just lift me up slightly and I'll try to sit" he instructed, getting ready for the huge amount of pain he was about to feel. Harry nodded and, carefully and as if he were looking for consent, put his hands on the sides of Louis' chest, trying to go as high as he could so he wouldn't touch the incision. His hands burned where he was touching him, even if they were over the fabric, and surely enough Louis could feel it too. He lifted him up ever so slightly and Louis pushed himself back with his legs so he could sit straighter, feeling an overwhelmingly painful wave of pain hit him all over his chest and abdomen. He closed his eyes, complaining a little under his breath. 

"Are you okay? Did I hurt you?" Harry asked, immediately taking his hands away from him and searching for an apology as quickly as he could. 

"No no" Louis was quick to say, still feeling as if he were being stabbed. "Just press the up button at the side of the bed twice please," he asked, as there was no support behind his back to keep him from contracting his abs. Harry did as told, and the upper part of the bed got more inclined, just so it could support Louis' enough. "Now, help me rest my back," he asked again, being sure that if he did it on his own it would hurt even more. 

"Are you sure I'm not gonna hurt you?" he asked back, insecure. 

"I'm sure babe, please" it was the first time Louis called him 'babe', and a shiver ran through Harry's spine, liking the sound of it. 

"Okay," Harry mumbled, getting closer again. 

"Just extend both of your arms vertically on my back and let me rest on them. Then, lower them until my back is laying on the bed" Louis instructed again, and Harry seemed to get it right. He did as he was told, with one arm on the right side of his back and the other one on the left. Louis laid back that so he would rest there and Harry lowered them almost perfectly, not making Louis wince at all. "Oh, that feels better" Harry pulled his arms away, trying to bother Louis as little as he could. "Thank you" Louis mumbled, getting used to the effect of the pain meds once again. 

"Are you sure I didn't hurt you?"

"Haz, it's gonna hurt if I move, for a while. It's okay" Louis explained sweetly, patting the now empty side of his bed. "Sit if you want" Harry didn't say anything but he sat right beside him, facing him and really appreciating how beautiful he was, so damn pretty. 

"Actually, I wanted to thank you last night but I just forgot sorry" he apologised, smiling and finally daring look into the blue of Louis' eyes. 

"It's nothing... but wait, you say I was awake last night?" Louis asked, not remembering being awake. He supposed he did sometime after the surgery, he wouldn't be in that room if he hadn't, but he didn't remember any of it. 

"You don't remember?" Harry asked, frightened of having to tell him everything he did, quickly getting that feeling of possessiveness that had come the night before. 

"I don't. How was I? Was I too drunk?" Louis smiled but it was quickly erased off his face once he saw how Harry got more serious, flaring his nostrils unconsciously. That was the most he had seen of Harry's alpha. "Wait, what did I do?"

"If you were drunk? You were even high, I don't know what those things did to get you that way" and Harry couldn't avoid filling his sentences with an enormous amount of anger. Such a sudden change, he went from being all Harry to being an alpha Louis almost didn't recognize. 

"Please, tell me I didn't do anything stupid" Louis begged him, already thinking the worst. 

"Well, for starters, you openly flirted with a nurse, in front of my own eyes" Louis covered his blue eyes with the palm of his hand, feeling embarrassed only from hearing that. It wouldn't cross his mind until later that he was experiencing a jealous Harry, rather than just a mad one. "Two highlights are: you told him he could check you up all he wanted, and you shouted 'handsome' just as he was leaving" and now Louis was covering up his whole face with both of his hands, so embarrassed he would laugh at himself if it weren't for Harry's semblance. 

"Really? Who was he? Was he pretty at least? An alpha?" he couldn't believe himself, that would've been hilarious if it had been someone else but what if he ran into the poor nurse that had to see and hear all of that?

"Yeah, his name is Ethan" Louis' eyes widened, hearing how Harry practically spat his name out. 

"Shit, poor guy. I'll have to apologize to him when I see him." Louis said, going through a complete delayed embarrassment. 

"You know him?" and it only seemed to grow worse. 

"I do. He was the surgical nurse to a case I had last year. He is handsome, though" Louis agreed, thanking God that he still had good taste even under the effects of anaesthesia. Harry, on the other hand, had never flared his nostrils as much as he was doing right then. 

"Yeah, you've already said that... quite a few times" Louis smiled again, thinking to himself he should stay as far away as he possibly could from those drugs. 

"And what, are you jealous? I can admire beauty in men" he exclaimed, much like he had last night. 

"That's another thing you did last night."

"Admire men's beauty?" he asked, feeling sassier as time went by, trying to laugh off Harry's state. 

"Besides that, you were incredibly sure that I was jealous of Ethan" yeah, that definitely sounds like the non-professional Louis, drunk and high. 

And maybe the facial expression was what gave it away, but Louis finally noticed that Harry was, in fact, jealous. He was acting just so instinctively, wanting to protect and provide. He felt threatened and he was very wary, trying to keep his omega to himself. 

His omega. Louis was his, he would always be. 

"And were you?" he asked back, instead of just feeling mortified, pushing it as far as he could. 

"Nope," Harry said, looking down for a second. And it was just so obvious. 

"Not even a little bit?"

"God, I swear you're making me live that night again" Harry tried laughing slightly, but he was just too tense for it to look normal. 

"Hand me the water please," Louis asked, still laughing. Harry did so, he handed him a glass of water with a plastic straw in it so he could drink better. "Thank you" he murmured, getting the straw into his mouth and drinking right away. Luckily, as the topic was being left behind, Harry started to relax. 

"You also asked me out" and Harry couldn't think of a better moment to tell him that bit of information. Louis choked slightly with the water that was on his mouth, and immediately pulled the glass away, coughing slightly. Suddenly the sassy look turned into a panicked one. 

"I did what?" Now he just couldn't believe it himself. "Oh Harry I'm so sorry" he apologised immediately, handing the glass back to him. "God, I was the one that said not to rush into things and the day after I ask you out. Sorry if that put any kind of pressure in you" he apologised further, feeling actually terrible. "I have to be stupid"

"Can you cut that crap? It's okay, no need to apologize, I'm even thinking about it" Louis' eyes widened slightly. "Think about it, the surgery's done and Eve should get better from now on. And... I mean, she even said once that she'd like us to be together so I have no doubts on that side. If you still wanted to... we could go on a date, I'd love to," Louis wanted to kiss all over Harry's face, but the fact that his abdomen wouldn't let him get up, and the little bit of sanity left in his head held him back from following his impulses. 

"Really?" he asked, still not believing what he was hearing. This boy was too much for him. 

"Sure, we can go once you and Eve are out of here" he suggested actually looking and feeling happy about it. 

"I'd love to" he gave his final answer, looking fondly into the green of Harry's eyes. 

"Oh, and also, you said that you had a long line of men waiting to date you and that if I wanted you I'd better hurry" he added, slightly bitter, finishing with all the things Louis did while sedated. 

"Oh, dear God" that would be a long but very well spent afternoon.


	17. Chapter XV

Harry ended up staying the night with Louis. He tried to convince him that it was best if he went home, took a shower and grabbed some things. But Louis, being as stubborn as he is convinced him to stay, saying that he could take a shower in the hospital's bathroom and that they didn't really need anything from their home. 

They went to see Eve together on the evening of the day before. Louis had to beg for the nurse to allow him to go downstairs to the PICU, but finally and after a pretty good use of his words, he was allowed to, but under her eye. 

Earlier that afternoon a physiotherapist and doctor Richardson himself went into his room to help him stand up, and even if it was a rather painful activity, Louis managed to do it successfully. Of course, he had the help of three people and a walker, but he even managed to take a few steps. Being successful at that, and asking for fewer pain meds to look like he was getting better made the nurse allow him to go out of his room. And at around five in the afternoon they went down to see Eve. They got Louis a pretty fancy cushioned wheelchair and after a lot of walking, they got to the PICU. 

And Louis had seen intubated children before, many times, but seeing his little Eve with a tube down her throat and a bunch of other cables attached to her hurt more than he expected it to. 

"Oh my God," he mumbled under his breath, forgetting for that while about his pain and any other thing going through his mind or body. Except for Harry's touch. He rested a hand on Louis' shoulder and he immediately went for it, taking it into his. "If this is difficult for me, I can't even imagine how it is for you," Louis said, looking up and meeting with Harry's pitiful smile. 

"It is hard, yeah" Harry answered, looking back to his daughter through the glass. "I just have this constant itching, you know? I want to be there so bad, it should be me laying on that bed, not her" Harry was truly heartbroken. 

"I don't think you'll be able to see her anytime soon. She's in the isolation ward" the nurse commented, making the both of them look at her. 

And, for just a second, everything that Liam said on that same morning went through his mind, and he actually considered it. They were similar, there was no reason to deny it. Their hair colour was pretty much the same, only hers was a little bit darker and thicker, and both of them had blue cerulean eyes. Plus, Eve looked nothing like Harry, and although he's never seen a picture of her mother, he hopes she just looks a lot like her so he can stop thinking about all that nonsense. Those were all things Louis had seen before but never played attention to. The only thing that caught his attention about her, and it always did, was her eyelashes, how long and thick they were. And ironically enough, he only knew one person with such eyelashes. 

"I hope they wake her up soon" Louis was brought back by Harry's comment, and he tried to leave aside that crazy theory once again. 

"You'll see they will" Louis assured him, stroking lightly his hand, and they were so comfortable with that. 

They left about fifteen minutes later, orders of the nurse. And she was right, it had been less than 24 hours since his operation, he shouldn't even get up to pee and there he was, outside his room. She brought them back upstairs and helped Louis get back into his bed, who while doing so scooted all the way to the left to leave room for Harry. Perks of practically owning the hospital was that when you needed it you would be put in a suite, with a bed that's big enough for two. 

And that's how they spent the rest of the evening and basically, the following two days, cuddled up in a hospital bed, trying to see who could make the other laugh more and half of the times having Harry apologizing because it made Louis' stomach hurt. They didn't actually want to laugh, but it helped to keep their minds off the whole situation. It was rather therapeutic. They basically dated for two days straight, unofficially and in a hospital, but those two days helped them warm up to each other and to feel closer, more like a couple to be rather than friends who needed support. And because Harry stayed two full days there, he thought he wouldn't have enough clothes. But then he had to thank himself because the amount he had packed, while in a rush, had been enough for him to shower every day since Eve was admitted, which crazily enough had only been five and a half days. 

Now Louis was due to leave in three days time, if he behaved and if his medical team thought it was safe to do so, and in all honesty, Louis couldn't wait. His pain was getting down to a tolerable range, and he could actually go to the bathroom and not have a catheter down there, making him feel more uncomfortable even. He could even lay on his left side for a little while and sit up straight on his bed. Harry was really proud of Louis' progress, and he was particularly excited that day too. 

That day would be the day they would transfer Eve from isolation to a normal PICU room. They had started her immunological system the day before and, to the medical eye, things were looking good, her blood work was coming clean and it was time to wake her up. Finally, to Louis and Harry. Luckily enough they would be allowed to spend some time with her, which even if it wasn't much, it would be better than the days before. 

They were told that Eve had already been moved to a normal PICU room at about eleven o'clock, so it was up to them when to go visit her. Also, Harry asked to be there when she woke up, so they would wait for them. 

Louis was cleared to go see her at noon, so he started to get ready then. He was pretty nervous, but he couldn't contain his excitement. A nurse had to go and unplug all of his IV lines and she had to help him sit on the wheelchair. He wanted to do it on his own since he was able to walk with a walker and all that, but there were protocols that had to be followed when it came to medical supplies and self-administration. So at about quarter to one a nurse came in and unplugged both of his IV lines and helped him sit down on that same fancy cushioned wheelchair.

"I really think I'm able to walk myself there. I don't want to scare her, and she will be if she sees me on a wheelchair" Louis protested one last time, just as they were about to leave the room. "Besides, it's been almost three days, I feel ready" 

"Do you really feel strong enough?" the nurse asked, a beautiful and young omega girl, doubting him slightly. 

"Yes, I do" and boy, he was sure of himself. 

"In that case do as you please, we can't actually force you to do anything" and Louis wanted to jump out of happiness. He seriously thought his bum would deflate if he sat for another hour, and he was pretty proud of his bum, so he'd rather it stayed just as it had always been. 

Eventually, the nurse helped him stand up and she handed him the walker so he could rest his weight into it and the three of them got out of the room, walking really slowly to the PICU. 

Harry was nervous, no one could deny it, but above everything he was excited. To be fair, everyone felt like that. It was always exciting waking someone up from a coma, every patient would react differently. However, what made the difference was that the only thing Harry could think about as he walked alongside Louis was seeing his baby girl again, looking better than before and healing. And god, he had missed her so badly over those last few days that it was actually painful. He was hoping, from the bottom of his heart, that this would only go uphill, and they could be home as soon as possible. 

When they got there they saw her way better than the last time, at least. They got their first glance from outside the rather small room, heavily equipped with stuff Louis was glad wasn't being used. And the first thing they could distinguish was the fact that there was no intubation tube down her throat so she wasn't on a ventilator, and that her skin was looking normal again, leaving behind that yellowish tint liver failure gave her.

Before they got into the room, that already had doctors and nurses in, Harry and Louis were forced to put disposable scrubs over their clothing, but since Louis had pretty restricted movement they gave him a disposable gown that tied on his back. He already had one of those on but it wasn't disposable, and he was rather happy that he could wear underwear underneath them now. They were given shoe covers and after they put them on, they had to wash their hands thoroughly and just then they were allowed to get into the room. The staff wasn't actually wearing the same things as they were they just made foreign people wear them to ensure the patient's safety. 

"She looks so much better" Louis commented as he got in, smiling widely at the sight of his favourite girl. 

"Yes, treatment has been working quickly. Even we are surprised" doctor Richardson commented. He was doing the follow up on both cases, him and Eve. "Things are looking pretty good"

"I'm so glad to hear that" Harry couldn't take his gaze away from his girls it had been three days since he had her this close, he missed her so badly. He helped Louis sit down on an armchair they brought him and he stood right beside him. 

"How are things going? What is the prognosis?" Louis asked, feeling better now that he was sitting. As much as he wanted to stand, it required him a lot of energy to do so, so sitting would be his best option. 

"If she keeps improving, we'll transfer her to SDU in two or three days, maybe less. We have to see her awake and conscious before we do that" 

"That's amazing. How have you been feeding her?" Louis was asking all the relevant questions because he knew what to ask, and Harry was just standing there with his hand on Louis' shoulder and Louis' own scooted up to grab his once again. 

"TPN through an IV" a nurse answered shortly. 

"Mind if I ask what's TPN?" Harry asked with his voice as low and deep as he could get it, feeling slightly out of place and intimidated. There were far too many alphas in that room, too close to his girl and Louis. He couldn't help it but feel threatened. 

"Stands for 'total parenteral nutrition' and it's basically a fluid that contains everything that food contains, that goes straight into the bloodstream when the gastrointestinal system isn't functioning properly" Louis explained, looking up to him and patting his hand slightly. "She did one round before the surgery"

"Oh, okay" Harry murmured, watching how a yellowish-white liquid went into the line on her right arm and said TPN on the package. 

"We'll keep her on TPN for a while though, and we'll try to make the transition to NG tube feeding and normal feeding as smooth as possible" Richardson explained, getting Louis' approval with a nod. "So, before we wake her up we might as well explain to you what will happen" he directed himself towards Harry since he was the only one who didn't know about all the possible outcomes. "We'll give her a pretty low dose of adrenalin which should be enough to wake her up without causing too much trouble. Some things that can happen are: her heart rate will go up, she may be disoriented or euphoric when waking up, and she can be drowsy and confused for a while before you get to speak with her" he explained, receiving a nod for each thing he would say. Then the room fell into silence just as Emanuel signalled the nurse to inject the solution. He did, and they all waited anxiously. 

Eve's heart rate did go up quite a bit, getting as high as 130 just before her eyes opened up wide and slightly alarmed. But the lights might have bothered her because she closed them back just as quickly as she opened them. Harry was on the edge of his emotions, finally getting closer to having his baby girl back. He approached the bed slightly, watching how his daughter flinched at the stimulation, finally waking up. His hand itched to grab hers, but he contained himself because maybe he wasn't allowed to, but God, he wanted to so much. 

She finally opened her eyes up just as she did when Harry woke her up too early in the morning, and she even rubbed them with her hands to wake herself up a little more. 

"Hi darling" Harry murmured, keeping his voice low so he wouldn't bother her. Everyone else in the room was silent, watching her react. He wanted to cry out of happiness now that his baby girl was awakening. 

"Dad, m'tired," she said, with a pretty sore throat and wanting to go back to sleep. Apparently, she didn't freak out or something, so the dose may have been barely enough to wake her up. "What time s'it?" she closed her eyes again, bothered by the white hospital lights on the ceiling. 

"It's noon baby, time to wake up," Harry said sweetly, approaching the bed even more and taking her hand into his, noticing that no one told him anything. 

A nurse was ordered to hang a bag of saline with a low dose of caffeine in it to complement the other drug and wake her up completely, as she now was too tired to understand or care about what was happening. 

"Lou came to visit" Harry mentioned and she bothered to look to their side, focusing her sight on the image of Louis sitting beside her bed.

"Lou..." she smiled sweetly, waking up as time went by, still pretty confused. "What is Louis doing home? Why are you dressed up funny?" she spoke very slowly, much like her father did, but just out of tiredness and sedation. 

"Honey, we're not home. We're at the hospital, remember?" Harry asked her, getting a confused frown as an answer. There was a bubble forming quickly to which only him, Louis and Eve had access to, forgetting about the medical team that was watching over them. "Remember that you had trouble with your liver and that we had to fix it?" she nodded then, understanding now why she was there and starting to feel more awake. 

"Yeah" she mumbled. "Where did you get one? Did you make one with play dough?" she asked innocently while the doctor wrote on her chart how alert she was getting and that she had a good reaction to the treatment. 

"Actually, Louis borrowed you a piece of his" Harry answered, feeling more aware of Louis' presence and placing his hand on Louis' thigh.

"Why?" she asked again, looking quite surprised and paying attention to Louis now. 

"Your liver and mine looked alike, so the doctors took yours out and replaced it with a little piece of mine so you would get better" Louis explained, offering her his hand which she gladly took. 

"But isn't it too little?" she was so innocent so pure. 

"Nope. The liver is fantastic, it can heal itself. So in a couple of months you will have your own full liver and so will I" Harry just watched them, smiling softly and just happy that his little girl was back and so were all her obnoxious questions. 

"But do you have a scar?" she asked again, too curious about the topic to let it go. 

"I do, and so do you" Louis answered, and he regretted it immediately when he saw how her face turned sad and disgusted. Of course, she wouldn't like having a scar all over her stomach, but luckily for her, hers was smaller than Louis'.

"I don't want to have a scar, they're ugly" she complained; her eyes starting to water as she talked. 

"But hey, don't cry. Look, that scar is there because you are here. It says 'look, I got ill but I fought back and now I'm fine'. You have to be proud of that." Louis encouraged her, but she wasn't completely convinced about it. 

"And what about you? Don't you mind?" she was really worried about it when it was thanks to that scar that she was there. Louis would ensure she learnt that. 

"I don't. I even like it, you wanna know why?" she nodded quickly, trying to get her head around the fact that that was something they would share for the rest of their lives. "Because if my scar weren't where it is, you would still be ill and feeling poorly, for me that's enough of a reason" she smiled wide, but with her eyes still glossy. They just loved each other so much.

"And think about the good side, Lou and you will have something to match, and that makes you unique" Harry added, contributing to the list of good things about having a scar. 

"Thank you so much, Lou. I love you" and Louis melted with how honest and sincere her words were. It was then that he confirmed that he wanted to be in that girl's life for as long as he possibly could. 

"I love you too, darling, so so much" he brushed his fingers against her knuckles, trying to calm down the urge to give her a hug because neither of them would actually feel okay getting one. And Harry just smiled, because the person he loved the most and the person he was positive he would love in a near-future already loved each other, and that felt just right. 

They stayed a little while in silence, mostly because they felt that Eve needed to get used to her surroundings since she had never been there before. Harry and Louis just held hands, sitting side by side. Harry was brought a chair from the outside of the room and he just sat there, keeping his daughter company in a really comfortable silence. Eve didn't notice they were holding hands, and they would think of themselves as lucky just a couple of weeks ago, but it didn't actually matter right then. They were happy and together, sort of regarding to Louis and Harry, and that was what was important. 

"Lou!" Eve exclaimed then, losing the peace they had gotten to the room. 

"Oh my God, you scared me. Are you okay? Does anything hurt?" he asked once he noticed she seemed fine. That scared the crap out of him since he wasn't expecting it. 

"Nope, I just remembered that before the surgery you said you'd be there when I woke up, and you were! I like that you keep your promises" and Louis cooed because of how sweet and cute that little girl was. He wasn't sure if he could love her any more than he already did, and then she would say things like that and he would discover that it was possible to love her a bit more. 

"Of course, I always keep my promises, don't I?" and then he looked at Harry, and smiled as widely as he could. They were on the right pathway towards being completely fine, and they hadn't felt this happy in ages. 

"Of course you do, you always do," Harry said, looking at him fondly, keeping inside so many things he would like to say. But they deserved their moment, and that moment would come just as soon as they were all completely fine. 


	18. Chapter XVI

Louis couldn't feel better, it was just impossible. They were finally beginning to get better, everything felt like it was finally falling into place. His and Eve's healing process was going so well that he didn't believe it himself. One week had gone by since the surgery, however, he was getting ready to go home and little Eve was about to be moved into a normal room.

Now, while packing up his belongings, he could only think about the beautiful afternoon he would spend with Eve and Harry. Yes, he knew that as soon as he got discharged he would have to go home and back to bed for at least two more weeks, that's what medical advise said, but well, he himself gave medical advice most of the time so he could use that as an excuse. And of course, he wouldn't be leaving the hospital if he weren't who he was and if he hadn't had such a great recovery. He actually had to stay one more night than he expected just because the pain wasn't diminishing as expected and doctors were afraid of infection. But after a heavy dose of antibiotics and pain meds, Louis was free to go home, only to keep up with treatment as soon as he got there. If he were an alpha his recovery would have been even better, but he didn't mind. He was happy with being an omega and recovering as he was.

As far as self-sufficiency went, he was getting pretty good at it. He couldn't run or walk quicker than slow, but at least he could do that, and he was proud and also aware of the recovery journey he was facing.

"Are you ready to go home?" he heard Liam ask from behind. Since he wasn't cleared for driving, or working for that matter, Liam would have to take him home and make sure he settled in well. He was told he shouldn't be alone, at least the first couple of days, but as always he didn't want to bother anyone. He had yet to tell his family that he had gone under the knife and all that shit, and to be honest he was pushing it as far away as possible. He just didn't want to face his mum's questioning. And Liam couldn't stay with him either, he had a life of his own, he couldn't just ask him to stay at his place for a couple of days.

"Just gotta get that blanket into the suitcase and we're good to go" he answered, attempting to walk towards the closet and grab the blanket himself, only to have Liam do it for him way faster. "I can do stuff on my own, you know?"

"I do, but you shouldn't. You know you'd still be admitted if you weren't a doctor and practically the owner of the hospital, don't you?" Liam answered, closing the suitcase for him and putting it on the floor so he could pull from it.

"I know. But I'm just so happy I get to go home, hate being admitted" Louis gave up on trying to be self-sufficient and just followed Liam out of his room when he saw him smile, as slow as his recently cut open stomach allowed him to. Truth to be told, he did feel a decent amount of pain in the incision area and its surroundings whenever he walked or stood for too long, but he could stand it, he just couldn't stand another day at the hospital, not as a patient.

They started walking around the hallways of the hospital at Louis' pace. Louis had denied the wheelchair he had been offered several times, purely out of proudness. Leaving the hospital in a wheelchair would hit his pride too much, he hated thinking about it. He was so stubborn, but friends and family loved him just the way he was.

"Li, do you mind if I stay a little bit with Eve and Harry before leaving?" he asked, hopeful his friend would listen. They were approaching the SDU ward of the hospital on their way out, and Louis just wanted to say goodbye and see her. He wouldn't for a while, probably. "Don't look at me like that, I'll miss 'em" he whined when he saw the look on Liam's face. "You know you can't say no to me" he used his puppy eyes on Liam and that was all it took for him to say yes.

"I'll go put this in the car and I'll be right back for you," Liam said, not liking too much the fact that Louis would go to Eve's room on his own.

"Thank you Liiiii" Louis happily left a kiss on Liam's cheek and wandered around the hospital some more, trying to walk faster but not push himself too much because it'd be counterproductive in the long run.  
A couple of hallways and a few turns later he was facing the 128 door of the SDU ward, and he just let himself in, without knocking or anything. Harry and he were already at that kind of trust, Harry'd do the same whenever he went to visit him when he was admitted.

He breathed in the scent filling the room, rejoicing in it for a quick moment. He had missed it, even if he had visited the day before.

"Hey, sunshine!" and of course, neither Harry or Louis knew who was the one called 'sunshine', if Harry or Eve. Louis' mind just settled for both, but glad he used the singular term.

"Hi!" Eve said excitedly. Louis got completely inside the room and closed the door behind him. Harry immediately stood up and signalled Louis to sit there, Louis thanking him with one of his biggest smiles and taking the seat as fast as his legs allowed him to.

"How are you feeling, sweetheart?" he tore his gaze away for a second to look at her- who was looking incredibly healthier already-, murmuring a small thanks to Harry.

"Much better," she said, emphasizing the 'much'. "They don't let me get out of bed though" she complained.

"I know darling. Maybe in a couple of days, they will" Louis said optimistically, smiling softly. Recovering and seeing Eve recover were so relieving.

"Actually, they said that they'll bring the walker this evening and that they'll help you stand up" Harry added to the conversation, standing beside the armchair and resting his forearms on the backrest, hovering over Louis' slightly.

"That's great," Louis said, looking up and meeting Harry's eyes, smiling dumbly. Those couple of days they stayed together managed to get him more whipped than he was before, if possible.

"Lou, why aren't you wearing your pyjamas?" Eve asked, noticing that Louis was dressed in normal clothes. The last couple of times he had been there he wore his pyjamas, for the gown was too revealing to his taste.

"Because I'm going home, sweetie" he explained, trying to get closer to the bed without making his midriff hurt. "I've got discharged"

"That's really good," Harry said, finding out about it just at the same time Eve did. With Eve being awake and alert, they hadn't been having much time to themselves, so their long afternoons cuddling or just chatting had practically vanished. Don't get them wrong, they loved that Eve getting better was the cause of it, but they just missed it. They got used to relying on the other so much it hurt, but it'd be awkward acting that way now that Eve was around and aware.

"Can I go home too?" and there was the question.

"I'm afraid you can't, honey" Louis tried to talk as sweetly as he could, seeing how her cerulean blue eyes just turned sad.

"Why? We got surgery the same day" she argued.

"I know, but my body was fine before the surgery and yours wasn't, that plays a big role" he explained, taking her hand into his, being gentle. "I only have to heal my liver, you have to heal a lot more things. Besides, we're omegas, it takes a little bit longer for us to heal completely"

"It's not fair" she complained, crossing her skinny arms over her chest and pouting.

"But you kids heal faster. You'll see you'll be home in the blink of an eye" and there was no use to that, she was still pouting. "Hey, I don't want to see you sad!" Louis exclaimed, wanting to tickle her but thinking that it would be pure torture to do so. "I'm going to be home for a few days and I will not be able to come to spend all afternoon with you. I want you to give me a smile, just a little one" and there it was, the side of him that was with no doubt the reason he was a paediatrician. His words seemed to have worked because soon she was giving him the tiniest shade of a smile. "There it is!"

"You always make laugh, Lou," she exclaimed giving up and erasing the tense posture and the pout from her face.

"I know, it's my secret weapon," he says playfully and she giggled, covering her mouth up with her hand.

"Lou... can I tell you something?" she whispered, coming back down from the highs of laughing and getting slightly more serious.

"Why so serious?" Eve looked at her dad standing behind Louis and he got it. "What, you don't want your dad to hear?" he guessed and she just shook her head, signalling that she didn't want that in fact. "Harry, you heard" Louis talked seriously and with a fake attempt at a deep voice, making Eve laugh.

"What? She's five! She can't have that big of a secret to tell" he complained, getting the same semblance of seriousness from the both of them.

"You don't get it, dad, Louis and I share our _lidder_ , we understand each other better" Eve explained the matter of factly.

"So you want me to cover my ears?" Harry asked, not believing the situation and actually wanting to burst out a laugh.

"Actually you could just wait outside" she suggested, and Harry's mouth just opened into an 'O', faking offence.

"Okay, if that's what you want..." he just faked feeling hurt and walked towards the door, shaking his head in fake disappointment while Eve giggled right behind him. He loved her so much, he'd die for her.

Once Harry left the room, Eve and Louis sat more comfortably in their seats and just laughed slightly, happy that Eve's plan to get Harry out of the room actually worked.

"But what's wrong, honey? What do you what to tell me that you don't want your dad to hear?" Louis started being slightly worried it was something about the surgery, or how she felt about having a piece of Louis stuck inside of her quite literally.

"Just... it's dumb... but I'm not sure I want to leave the hospital," she enounced, her semblance turning a little sad with her words.

"Why would you say that? You just said that you wanted to be home already?"

"And I want to, but... I won't see you every day, Lou. I'll miss you lots" and Louis just wanted to drown in his own pool of awes. He smiled so widely when he heard those words he just couldn't contain it.

"But honey! We'll still see each other a lot!" he exclaimed, taking her hand into his and giving it a soft squeeze.

"But not every day" she pouted a little, melting Louis' heart.

"I know... but you know what? Don't ask me why but I think you and I will be seeing plenty of each other from now on" Louis said, lying halfheartedly a the part of 'don't ask me why' because in fact, he knew why.

"Why do you say that?" and there it went, of course, she would ask why.

"I don't know, I just have a feeling" Louis smirked, thinking that if odds were on his side, Eve and he would have a lot of time together from then on

"Hope you're right, Lou" she smiled sweetly, tugging his hand lightly.

There was a knock on the door that interrupted their moment, followed by Liam walking in and surprising them both as they thought it'd be Harry the one to interrupt them. He got inside the room, followed by Harry, and looked at Louis straight into his eyes. And god, he knew that look, Liam had something really serious to talk about with him.

"Lou, we have to get going," he said, slightly too expressionless to Louis' taste. Louis just kissed Eve on her forehead and stood up from the chair, feeling a pull on his right hand, which was still holding Eve's.

"Sorry darling but I have to go" he kissed her forehead one more time, cursing to himself as a wave of pain hit him right in the incision. "Think about what I told you and I'll really try to come see you as soon as I can, okay?" Eve nodded, releasing her grip on Louis' hand and letting him go.

"Love you," she said quietly but smiling.

"Me too" Louis gave her one last time and finally turned around, facing a confused Harry and an expressionless Liam, who only seemed to be in a rush to get out of there. "I'll text you," he said to Harry, getting a short nod as an answer followed by a smile he gracefully returned.

Liam and he left the room, and Louis was quite confused as to why Liam was acting the way he was. He just said no word and started to walk slightly faster than Louis' body allowed him to, seeming desperate to get to the car.

"It took you longer than I expected to come get me, did you park too far away?" he asked, trying to keep up the pace and start a conversation. He just knew his best friend and he could see that there was something wrong there. As he expected, Liam didn't answer and just kept his glance low, walking towards the exit of the hospital. "Is everything okay?" he tried again, getting no answer.

When they got to the car, Liam helped him sit down in the passenger seat because, as the car was too low it was only logical that it would hurt if Louis did it on his own. And Louis really thought the silence couldn't get more awkward, but as soon as Liam sat down in the driver's seat and closed the door, the atmosphere got so tense he just wanted to get out of the car and run away. If he only could.

"Can you tell me what the fuck is going on?" he was just so confused with Liam's attitude. When he went to pick him up in his room he was rather normal, now he seemed tense and about to burst.

"I..." he wanted to start, but he just couldn't find the words. So instead he started the car and drove off into the driveway, trying to do so under the speed limits. God, he just needed a smoke and he couldn't do that.

"You were okay mate, what happened?" Louis insisted, looking at him and worrying.

"I did something bad" he finally said. And Louis trembled because he knew that if Liam could admit he had done something bad, it was really bad.

"How bad?" Louis tried to ask, not paying attention to all the images that were flooding his mind.

"But I also found out something like... big" and Louis couldn't lie, he was getting intrigued. His and Liam's friendship didn't always have those moments full of adrenaline, at least not as much as they used to have them, so this was bringing him back to his university days.

"Spill the bad first" Louis started, wanting to know once and for all what the hell he was talking about.

"I may or may not... have intruded in the hospital's statement archive?" And Louis' mouth could only gape.

All hospitals had statement archives, which kept the information of all patients ever admitted, and that was extremely important information that you just couldn't look up without a court order. It wasn't like other times when they had gone over the rules just because Louis was the president's son, this was way worse because not even Mark could access those files without the right permissions. Louis was going to kill him.

"What did you do that for?! You know those statements are protected by law, Liam, why would you do that?" he exclaimed, wanting so for so many answers. What was so important that made Liam look it up where he shouldn't have and could potentially get them in trouble?

"I just needed to clarify some things" he explained himself, taking a turn to the driveway that led to Louis' house, relaxing slightly enough that he wasn't worried about exceeding the speed limit.

"God, you have to be stupid. Do you know the risks that implies? I don't even want to think about someone finding out" Louis was pissed, he really was. Of course, everyone knew that having unlimited access to those files was a pretty good advantage, and that was the reason why law regulated who could and couldn't see them.

"I could prove a point, tough" Liam defended himself, trying to keep the chat as serious as he could without looking at Louis in favour of not crashing the car.

"Was it worth it? Because if it wasn't I'll just have to goddamn kill you" Liam, surprisingly enough, was scared about the repercussion his actions could have, but not of Louis.

"Honestly? I don't know" and he was honest. He just felt too in shock to process the information he learned and tie it up with what he already knew.

"What was it that you wanted to know anyway?" Louis asked, pissed off still but calming down. Now he was pretty intrigued about what was so important that made Liam break the law somehow.

"Nothing, just... don't really think it's something you wanna know about" and now Louis was back at wanting to choke him.

"How can you think so? You told me the crime, now tell me the reasons" he demanded.

"Lou..." Liam hesitated.

"What you did is pretty darn serious, I think I deserve to know why you put my family's hospital at risk of suing" Louis was being insistent, he knew, but everything could go so wrong from then on that he just needed to make sure.

"You do but-"

"-I know I do."

"You asked me not to talk about this again" Liam confessed finally, tightening the grip of his hands on the steering wheel.

"Oh..." and soon, Louis came to the realization of what the motivation for Liam's actions had been. "I asked you to stop" he said, letting the disappointment fill him up again. He really didn't want to think about the whole Eve being Olivia matter because he just wanted to let her go. And that also could bring trouble to his and Harry's future relationship, and he also didn't want that.

"I know," Liam said, clearly sorry about the whole situation. It was just that Louis couldn't see it. "But I just couldn't stop thinking about it"

"You know? I just hope you got hit with the truth. You're just making everything up and you'll soon see this was the most stupid thing you could have done" Louis snapped, crossing his arms over his chest and breathing in deeply just as he got a wave of pain hitting his stomach.

"That wasn't what happened" Liam whispered under his breath, way too low for Louis to hear, but weirdly enough, he did.

"How come?" and he was just so sceptical about this whole situation.

"Eve wasn't born at the KTM" Liam confessed, being encouraged by the fact that it was Louis himself who was asking.

"And why would that mean something?" Louis was closing up already, even if not life-changing facts were brought to the table. It was some sort of preventive measure.

"Because when I went to pick you up at Eve's room today I asked Harry if she had been born there" Liam added. He was afraid and aware of the possibility of hurting Louis very deeply with the information he was about to reveal, but as he just kept asking he kept getting aware of his impossibility to stop. "And he said she had"

Louis looked at him as if a third eye had grown on Liam's forehead, utterly surprised. He didn't think neither Liam or Harry would lie, but now that he had to choose what he believed for the story to make sense, he was doubting. He had known Liam for years, he trusted him with his life, even if sometimes he would mess up, just like he had done. And he had also known Harry for years, and he was just so Harry that Louis thought it impossible for him to be lying as well.

"Explain," he said simply, resting back against the backrest and letting a huge crumble of ideas and thought fill his mind up.

Louis wasn't weirded out only because it was a normal thing that omegas wanted to give birth at home, inside their nests. It was pretty weird seeing an omega deliver at a hospital, it only happened when health issues were implied and unassisted delivery could be fatal for either mother or pup.

"I just asked him that and he said that she was born at the KTM at night," Liam said, being honest when saying what he knew because that's what he could get from those few seconds of interaction he had with him.

"He could have said that because he was afraid of getting some weird extra costs, I don't know, remember he doesn't actually know you" Louis suggested, trying to believe in both parts. That hypothesis would explain matters pretty well. "Besides, omegas usually give birth in their nests, you more than anyone should know that"

"There's more..." Liam said, hanging on the sentence just so Louis could ask him to stop. He was praying he would because he knew that what he had learned would hurt him.

He didn't.

"Eve was admitted right after birth, an ambulance brought her. And she came with Harry..., her dead mother and dead twin brother" and both of them could only think of the word 'shit'.

"Oh my God..." Louis just couldn't believe his Harry had gone through that. Losing his mate and a child... that must have been awful. "Poor thing" he managed to pronounce.

"Yeah, poor Harry" Liam said, actually feeling it.

"I... I still don't get what this has to do with everything. All you did was invade his privacy" Louis complained, not being able to erase the image of Harry crying over his dead mate and cub.

"When I went through the mother's death certificate and information, I took a look at her scans. I... there was no way she could have been pregnant with twins. Nothing came up in the anatomy scan, it was just impossible..." Louis didn't want to get to where that conversation was leading. Sadly, it was unavoidable.

"Liam... that kind of thing can happen. One baby can hide behind the other one, I've seen it happen" Louis argued, wanting to believe that Harry had done no harm. He had to hold in onto that.

"I... the autopsy only got one placenta, for fraternal twins. Enough?" That was enough for Louis to run out of arguments. "Besides, she was a human pregnant with a wolf cub. It was mandatory for her to go to the hospital, those deliveries are really dangerous"

"She was human?" That would explain why Harry was never mated. Because they just can't.

"Yeah, her name was Isabella Garrik. Her placenta detached during delivery and she bled out" Liam explained, remembering how gorgeous she was from the pictures in her archive.

"That still doesn't mean anything. It doesn't have anything to do with me. Liam, why can't you just leave it?" Louis was almost pleading, afraid to feel as hurt as when he remembered his tiny girl alive, or worse when he learned he had lost her.

"It does" Liam insisted. He knew he was hurting Louis, but he had to get it out. He had to know what he knew. "When you were brought in, that night, you came alone," silence filled the car, letting that fact sink in.

"How about?" Louis managed to ask, not wanting to hear what Liam had to say.

Georgia had told him that Olivia had passed away in the ambulance, of a cardiac arrest. Her little heart must have had a defect or something they missed while he was pregnant, and that was what he had believed for all those years.

"Olivia wasn't with you, she wasn't registered in the morgue" and that was what Louis needed for his mind to go blank.

"Oh God..." those were the only two words that were able to come out of his mouth.

"Now you believe me?" Liam asked, trying to understand how Louis was feeling before saying what he thought about the situation. Much to his surprise, Louis shook his head, not wanting to believe what he was hearing.

"But she's not Olivia" Louis argued, letting Liam see how his beautiful blue eyes were getting strained by tears, which were only the beginning of the meltdown of the year. It was pure denial, more than anything.

"You can't know that" Liam argued back. Now that he had reached that point, now that he had got that far along that conversation, he wouldn't stop. Louis needed to see that with what Liam had learned, the possibility of Olivia having not died was real. "I saw the tapes of the night. They admitted Eve to the nursery and brought Theo, the other baby, to the morgue. It was the only admission at the time" that whole conversation was like throwing gas to a lit fire. Liam was bringing up such horrible memories and thoughts into Louis' head that he didn't know where to begin sorting them out. "I also saw the ones from the ER. You got to the hospital alone, Lou" and Louis just wanted to cry.

"Wait..." Louis stopped him, on the verge of crying his lungs out; a sob getting trapped in his throat. "God, this is too much" he breathed in deep, trying to calm down. He could feel the breakdown verging into him, how close he was getting to let his emotions loose.

"I know... the only thing that'd tell me she's not Olivia is if she were adopted" Liam wondered, worried about how his friend was feeling, but not being able to do anything physically speaking to calm him down. "But still... Harry brought her in with the other baby and the mother, they were registered as twins,"

"She's not" Louis stated pretty quickly, acting against the forces inside him that were pleading for him to cry, to break apart. "I met her when she was ten days old, she's not adopted"

The car fell into silence as Liam got closer to Louis' house. Everything inside Louis' mind was just so confusing, so many ideas were going through without a specific order, overwhelmingly overpowering him. Everything was falling into place, the reason why so many things didn't match up about their story, or their appearance. The fact that they bore no resemblance to the other was one of the things that Louis could distinguish in between the mess that his head was, in fact, it was the first thing he could see.

And then all the images suppressed by his unconscious mind came to him, screamed at him, matching her up to himself. Their eyes were undoubtedly similar, too similar, a blue of that kind wasn't easy to find. And then the thought of how long and thick her eyelashes were, just like Zayn's were. And how she was petite, pretty much like the both of them but nothing like Harry. How she had lupus, a disease that ran through his family, but not Harry's. And now he wanted to puke, puke his guts out because it couldn't be true, it just couldn't be. And there was also the fact that they were 98.7 per cent compatible for organ donation, percentage that could only be achieved between two close relatives. It was highly unlikely that two strangers would have that high of a match.

"I know you're freaking out," Liam said after a while, looking at Louis when the car came to a stop. He tried for Louis to look back to him but he was just lost, his body was there but his mind wasn't. "What we can do now is relax, maybe it's too much of a coincidence but it can still be" he suggested, being met by silence out of his best friend.

"You really thought that telling me this wouldn't make me freak the fuck out?" Louis asked, acting pretty pissed off but actually feeling sad, betrayed and tired.

"I knew it would. But you needed to know" Liam answered, finally pulling up at Louis' house.

"Why? Why did I? Everything was getting there, almost perfect. This ruins everything!" Louis practically screamed, feeling his midriff tense up but completely ignoring it, as if the pain wasn't actually there. Better than that, the pain was grounding him, making him physically feel what was going on through his mind.

"It doesn't!" Liam argued back. "Look, maybe things didn't happen like that and we're wrong, and it's highly probable, but why doubt?"

"I wasn't doubting it in the first place" Louis murmured back, annoyed and physically drained.

"You're gonna tell me you never looked at her and thought she looked like you? Or like one of the girls when they were little?" He said, referring to Louis' sisters. And it was true, Louis had thought about it, but never in that way. "Look, I'd do a DNA test just to make sure"

"With whose permission? Harry's?" he could feel how his rational side was pulling up again. There was no way Harry would allow something like that, as much as he liked Louis. Eve was his daughter and it was only common sense to assume she would always come first.

"He doesn't have to know. That, or you ask him" Liam suggested, pulling over at Louis' and parking the car finally, helping to relieve Louis' nauseous status.

"First, that's illegal, second, he'll think I'm nuts. Can we drop it now, please?" Louis was exhausted, physically but moreover emotionally. Thinking about that whole new scenario had fucked with his mind, and he honestly didn't know what to believe anymore.

"'course" the car was soon submerged into an uncomfortable silence, one of those they hadn't had in a while given how close their relationship was. If all Liam told him and guessed was right, the whole panorama of how Louis was planning his future would drastically change, and he wasn't sure if asking Harry and answering his doubts was actually viable.

"I need to let it sink in. Just help me settle and leave me alone for a while" Louis asked after a couple of minutes of analyzing all the shit that was going through his mind. Things just couldn't get worse.

Liam helped him out of the car without questioning, being careful with his small body. Everything was hurting now that the pain meds were wearing off, and he was eager to sit down on his couch, start an IV into himself and start some more pain meds while procrastinating and thinking about all the things that just happened in that twenty-minute car ride. His mind was just so full of emotions and thoughts... he couldn't process them anymore, they just sat there, bothering him, making him feel things he didn't want to.

It took them a couple of minutes longer than usual but eventually, he was settled in his couch, with an IV pump by his side and passing medication. Liam didn't let him start the IV himself, so he did it instead, and set everything up before leaving. Luckily Louis had the master bedroom downstairs and he had a guest bathroom pretty nearby, so he wouldn't have to move that much to get around. Liam left barely half an hour after they got there, leaving Louis as comfortable as he could be, physically at least. He left everything he'd need to cure his scar right beside him and even left him covered up with a blanket. That was such a caring relationship they had.

When evening came around, Louis was still unable to process the chat he'd had with Liam earlier that day, it was just impossible. Everything he knew was that he went to sleep extremely early, having seen a picture of Eve standing with the help of the medical staff, captioned by a message from Harry saying that they missed him, and he certainly didn't know how to feel about it.


	19. Chapter XVII

Louis had to have a couple of days to himself to heal, mentally and physically speaking. Luckily his wound was healing pretty quickly, and even if it still hurt sometimes, he could get around decently. That was without climbing upstairs or anything. At least he was cutting down on the pain meds, and if he had to take some, he'd take them orally. That was the only thing really making him feel better.

On the other hand, he couldn't bring himself to talk to Harry, and he feels like shit because he'd promised Eve they would FaceTime every day, or maybe not every day, but at least they would have some interaction. He just couldn't open Harry's chat without having a bunch of unwanted thoughts flooding his mind and bringing tears to his eyes. Needless to say, Harry was freaking out at the lack of response from Louis, even getting to ask Liam if he was okay. He was able to calm down once he heard Louis was just fine but he couldn't help but wonder what had happened and feel like he made a mistake. It was just a couple of days he took to get his mind around everything he had talked with Liam, but it felt like an eternity for the both of them. But now he had cleared his mind slightly, not enough that he felt actually good, but enough to make him able to confront Harry.

It really hurt when he came to the realisation that Eve could actually be his daughter. It sounded nuts for a while, until it actually sunk in and left him completely speechless, completely wrecked. He just couldn't get his head around the fact that he could have been grieving for someone for a bit more than five years and she had been there all along. He watched her grow up, transform into the girl she was now, and he would see her transition into a teenager and further up. It was just so difficult. Now he had got to a point of slight balance, although he still didn't know how to feel about it or what to expect, at least he had given it the thought the matter deserved. Now, everything that was left was talking to Harry.

He wasn't too sure of what he was going to do once he knew for sure, but he came to the conclusion that he wanted to hear him first hear what he had to say about it. He liked him so much, he was just so infatuated that he wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Those were almost five years of friendship going to waste if he didn't. Besides, there were all the other expectations they both had about the other as a potential mate, of finally settling down with someone and beginning a life together. There was so much upon the table, he just couldn't risk losing what he had worked for all those years, even if unconsciously.

So, taking all the time in the world he showered and got ready, thing he hadn't done in days practically, and got himself out of his house. He was pretty annoyed still at how slowly he had to walk, but being in pain was worse, so he just stuck to his slow pace. He had put on a nice pair of skinny jeans that weren't too tight around his stomach to avoid messing with the wound, and a loose white tank top, making sure it wouldn't bother his scar much, as well. The day before Liam had come to visit and changed his dressing, but after seeing it looked nice he just left it uncovered so his skin could breathe. And to be honest he was glad. The residues from the tape were incredibly itchy and he couldn't scratch them because he could hurt himself, so now they would just go away over time. However, he just popped his black vans on, grabbed a jean jacket and left his penthouse, trying to get around the idea that he was finally going to talk to Harry.

He took his time to get inside the Uber he had called for and chatted pleasantly with the driver. Since the surgery had been done quite recently he still wasn't cleared to drive, so he would have to stick to Uber and cabs for a while. Well, that was from the next day on because his car had been left parked at the hospital since Eve was admitted and he had to get his baby home, so he would go against medical advise and drive himself home afterwards.

Twenty minutes later the Uber driver pulled up at the hospital, and Louis got out of the car saying his last goodbyes, thinking that the man was really kind and that he would rate him whenever he had time. He didn't think much more about it and just went up and about the hospital, knowing it like the palm of his hand, up until he got to Eve's room. In the way there he met with a lot of co-workers who were really happy to see him again, and he really felt good about that. It was one of the very first interactions he had since he got discharged. He knocked on the door once he got there, and when he heard Harry's voice shout a 'come in' he suddenly froze. That was it, he'd talk to him, finally.

Suddenly all the things he had thought about for the past couple of days filled up his mind, and he could no longer focus on anything. He was going all blank. That was until he realised he was facing a pretty confused Harry, standing on the doorway. And he would always be able to remember all his features, how his green eyes showed a tint of confusion, how his lips couldn't decide between pouting or smiling, how he was standing just there, being the amazing person he was, completely effortlessly.

And then he smelled him, and it hit him really hard how much he had missed it. Him, them. He smelled so much of him, of Harry, fresh and manly, with a tint of freedom. His scent was something Louis could never decipher. It mixed the smell of pines in spring, with the smell of wet dirt after a storm, plus recently cut grass and vanilla. And normally that last one wouldn't be so appealing mixed with a scent so fresh but Harry made it work. Smelling him for the first time in five days was what made him realize that there was no way this Harry, _his_ Harry, would have ever lied to him. And as much as that made him feel better, it made him feel worse.

"Hi" he heard Harry welcome him, but he was frozen in action. "Louis?" he heard his name come out of Harry's lips and he came back on himself, not before thinking that it sounded so damn beautiful, unrolling from his mouth so sensually, even if not intended.

"Hello" he greeted him, smiling tightly.

"God, you worried me sick," Harry said just before engulfing him in a tight hug, making Louis dizzy. One could smell only so well, but Harry exceeded that, it was nauseating how nice and _right_ his scent was. He felt like he belonged there, buried deep in between his arms.

"I'm fine," he said once he realized he had to respond.

"Why didn't you answer my calls? Think I called you like five times" he could see how worried he was and had been about him. Such a nice man... Louis was so torn.

"I was just..." Louis was interrupted by Eve's loud squeak of happiness now that her Louis had come visit.

"Lou!" he heard her call his name and used it like the perfect excuse to elude Harry's questioning and leave it for later.

"Hi darling!" he moved out of the doorway as quickly as his wound allowed him to and approached Eve's bed, who seemed to be painting before he arrived.

And he just couldn't believe how good the little omega looked, how healthy she had got over the past couple of days. It was evident how the transplant had done wonders to her. And again, he had to smell her to realize how much he had actually missed her.

"You look great! How do you feel?" It was amazing just how seeing that girl could make him feel so good, right.

"I feel better" they shared a short hug and Louis just felt different. Touching her felt different, like some sort of attachment or bond had been created, that maybe had always been already there but they never realised before. It felt just great, right, and that was why Louis decided not to give it much thought before talking to Harry about it.

He sat down in the armchair beside the bed and pretended that he didn't feel the touch of Harry's hands guiding him smoothly as he sat, trying to avoid any discomfort. He was so done with the situation, with the uncertainty, he wanted to know, needed to.

"How have you been?" Louis asked her, taking her little hand into his and smiling softly. He could just hear how Harry sighed behind him, resting his weight on the backrest.

"Better, I want to go home already!" she whined.

"I know honey, you will, soon" sympathy was painting Louis' face, and Eve could certainly feel it.

"I saw my scar the other day" she commented, almost shyly and blushing slightly.

"And? How did you feel about it?" Louis asked sweetly but wary, knowing it could be a pretty harsh topic. It was amazing how the theory of her being his daughter had been enough for him to see her completely different. He felt like he belonged where he was now, right beside her.

"I liked it, even named it" Louis was kind of surprised. When they went to visit her for the first time she had almost thrown a tantrum because she had a scar, stepping from that to naming it was a pretty big deal.

"Really? What's its name?" He felt her so much of his own that it was almost unbearable.

"William" she answered giggling. Louis smiled widely.

"That's my middle name" he commented and felt how Harry smiled from behind him, guessing he had something to do with that. Of course, he had, he could be such a dork sometimes.

"Yeah, I wanted to name it 'Louis' but it was weird, so dad told me your middle name was William. Wanna see him?" She offered.

"You have it uncovered?

"Yes, the doctor said it was better to leave like that so it would heal faster" she shrugged slightly, covering herself up to her waist with the bed sheets so she could lift up her blue dotted hospital gown. When she did, Louis was faced with a scar, not much different from his own, only slightly smaller and without the bit that went up towards the chest. It was reddish along the edges, colour getting deeper closer to the incision. The surgeons had been careful enough to stitch it instead of stapling it so the scar wouldn't be as harsh. It would still be there though, for the rest of her life.

"It's beautiful, love. Thank you for naming it after me" Louis said, truthfully and straight from his heart. If she was his daughter or not, he decided then that he would love her as if she were, because he just couldn't let such a beautiful soul leave his life, ever. "Want to see mine?" He asked her, hoping that any bad feelings she had about it disappeared once she saw how he had one too. He was pleased when she nodded, and without standing up he lifted up his tank top, showing his scar.

"It looks like mine" she commented, smiling softly.

"I know, baby, and what's best, having this scar makes us have something more in common. And it's forever," she smiled at that again, looking away as Louis lowered his tank top.

They played and chatted for about an hour before it was time for Eve to get some antibiotics and some immunosuppressants. The downside of them was that they sedated her, and no matter how much sleep she had got the night before, she would fall asleep a few minutes after starting the medication. So, as predicted, twenty minutes after the nurse left her settled, she was sleeping soundly on her bed; head rested on her pillow and a content expression on her face.

Silence could only grow inside the room once Eve fell asleep. It was so awkward being sat in there, with Harry in front of him and having this huge amount of things to say but not knowing how to organize them. He wanted to get over the issue already, couldn't wait for it to be over.

"Can we talk?" Harry had pronounced, noticing that Louis was fidgeting uncomfortably. Sue him, but he was sure something was up with the way Louis had been acting those last couple of days, and he needed to know what had happened. Everything had been as perfect as it could be and all of a sudden it wasn't anymore. Harry was confused, to say the least.

"Sure," Louis said quietly, not looking up to meet his gaze. He was just so worried that everything would be gone, that he'd just lose them over the _talk_ they were going to have.

"How have you been? Why didn't you answer any of my calls or texts? If it weren't for Liam keeping me updated on you I would have gone crazy" the alpha intended to approach him, engulf him in some sort of physical contact, but seeing Louis shudder and curl up into himself told him it was something he clearly did not want. He was acting possessively, he could realise that, but it was purely out of instinct.

"I just... I needed to go over some stuff. Mentally." Louis said back, without looking at him. He was so afraid he would blurt out the question at him without any warning and that would be just terrible.

"You could've told me" Harry insisted.

"I couldn't," Louis said, looking at his own hands as if they were the most interesting thing ever.

Silence filled the room once again, and now Harry was worried. The alpha could not understand what had happened, what had made Louis act the way he was acting. When he left the hospital everything was perfect and now it wasn't, and it was driving him crazy.

"Look I... I need to ask you some things, and I need you to let me finish before you decide I'm nuts, please?" Louis started, thinking that if ripping a band-aid fast would hurt less, the same could be said of their situation. Harry just nodded; an unsure look painting his face. "Honestly, if it weren't for Liam I wouldn't have thought of this... I- it's buried deep in my mind, I just don't talk about it" Harry nodded, implying he could continue. Louis took another deep breath and went in. "Do you remember that when we met I... I had lost a child, right?" He hated talking about Olivia to others, like sharing her memory, the fact that she existed, made her a little less his.

"Yeah, you had lost a pregnancy right?" Harry tried, feeling uncomfortable about the subject. He could see right through Louis, how he was debating himself, not knowing what to say. And needless to say, he hated seeing such a beautiful soul like Louis' being so torn.

"Actually no, it was almost full-term, thirty-six weeks." Louis wanted to bring his knees up to his chest, but having had abdominal surgery a week before wouldn't let him. He just wanted to look as little as he felt, sitting on that huge armchair. "She... It was quite a traumatic experience" he continued, breathing in deep.

"Lou, we don't have to talk about it if you don't feel comfortable. You don't have to feel as if you owe me an explanation for it, I understand" and god, Harry was such a sweetheart, such an understanding being. There was no way he could ever lie to him, or avoid telling the truth for that matter.

"I have to, just listen," Louis said, and Harry just shut up, resting his back on the wall and looking at him expectantly. "I was at a conference on the night of April 27th, 2011. I was 36 weeks pregnant and I just... I felt like crap." Reminiscing about the times when he was pregnant and alone was so hard. He'd feel lost, craving for a touch, a specific type of attention and love he had never experienced before, yet he so desperately needed.

Harry was just nodding along, not too sure about where the omega wanted to get but listening still. He just wanted to know why everything had been so weird and off since Louis had left the hospital.

"You know I..." Louis attempted to continue. "I found out I was pregnant the same day I found out that her father had been sent into prison for drug dealing. He... he was a beta. Or is, I really don't know anything about him as of now" he tried to explain, delaying the inevitable. "I had never felt..." he interrupted himself. "I've never felt that bond you get when you're in love with an alpha, so while I was pregnant I was craving a specific kind of touch, of love, and wasn't getting it. That was the hardest,"

"Oh, Lou..." Harry mumbled, wanting so badly to reach out for his hand but not doing it.

"But back to the point. I was in this conference, dressed all fancy, and I felt just felt off. So I went to the bathroom to splash some water on my face and then I got my first contraction," he had come to the conclusion that he hated talking about his birth experience a long while ago, and now he remembers why. It brought up so much anguish and pain that it was awful as if he were living it again. "I tried to calm down and think like... 'It's okay, I've been on my feet for hours, it's just a Braxton Hicks'. But then a minute went by and I got another one, and then another one until my water broke on the third one" talking was getting more and more difficult by the minute and he hated it. He wanted to be done telling such story. "From then on everything went by so fast, so blurry. I... I remember 3 women coming into the bathroom and just like that they were helping me give birth in the floor... on a bathroom" he was on the verge of crying, but he convinced himself that he wouldn't. He had already shed enough tears over that story. "Olivia was born at midnight, on April 28th" he breathed in deep, wanting to continue. "She deserved so much better, a planned birth, quiet and in my nest, surrounded by love. She was just... so beautiful. That's what I like to think as I don't actually remember her face. That's one of the things that trigger me the most". Louis swallowed the lump in his throat, afraid that he would start to sob. He needed to compose himself and be strong, for himself and for the memory of his little girl.

"Oh, baby..." Harry ignored completely Louis' body language and approached him, sitting beside him on the armchair. They were slightly squeezed in there but neither of them cared about it. They just cared about the touch of the other, the scent of the other, thing they had missed so much over those days apart. Harry hugged him tightly, letting the omega rest his head on his chest, trying to calm him down. "You don't have to keep doing this anymore, it's not worth it if you get like this" such a sweet alpha he was. And of course, Louis just ignored him.

"Just a couple of days ago," he continued. "Liam pressured me to remember the birth because I just couldn't. God, I didn't even know if she had been born stillborn or alive" Harry's scent was doing wonders to him, calming him down so effectively. He took another deep breath in and continued. "And I remembered it all. She had lots of dark hair on her head, and I remembered her crying. She was so strong right out of the womb. She clung to my pinky so tightly..." saying it out loud was so difficult for him, but he could notice how actually telling someone would help him get over it, eventually. "But then I passed out. I had a huge tear and almost bled out. The next thing I remember is waking up at the hospital two days later with no baby and my sister telling me she had passed away, but doctors didn't even know if before or after birth."

"I'm so sorry, Lou.... so deeply sorry" Harry caressed his arm, and hugged him tighter to his chest, letting Louis use him as a refuge. And it sort of worked. Louis lifted his head up, burying his face on the crook of Harry's neck, where his scent was the strongest. He calmed down slowly, trying to process all the emotions that telling the story had brought him.

"Sadly that's not the point" Louis was set on continuing, lifting g his head up once again and looking at Harry. He had to find out. "A couple of days ago, and I don't know why it went through Liam's head to check on the security tapes of the night I gave birth," he started, suddenly scared of finding out but also as eager as he could ever be. "And he found out that I was admitted alone, that no one had admitted Olivia's body to the morgue," he didn't see but rather felt how Harry frowned, pretty confused. "He had told me this hypothesis he had when he spent the morning with me while I was admitted. It sounded so nuts to me and I just dismissed it. That was until he watched those clips and told me what he saw. I knew he couldn't be lying, he wouldn't."

"Where do you want to go with this Lou? It's hurting you and I don't like seeing you like this," Harry said softly, nuzzling his nose into Louis' freshly washed hair, breathing in deep and getting drunk in his scent. He really wasn't expecting what was to come.

"Liam's hypothesis was that..." he breathed in again, finally facing the fear of telling Harry all that incoherence. "Maybe... there is a possibility that you... adopted Eve and... and that, Eve, might actually be... oh god, that she might actually be... mine?" He saw Harry's face transform as the sentence slurred out of his lips, ending in a very low volume as if he were afraid of what he was saying. "I know it's probably the craziest thing you've ever heard, but our compatibility for donation was so high, and they were born the same day... I just, with all of this I don't know what to think anymore. I really need you to tell me she's yours so I can leave this topic the fuck alone and continue on with my life." Louis was talking so quickly it was actually scary. And Harry was just stoked.

"I..." he tried to say, but words could not express what he was feeling, because even he himself didn't know. Everything was just so blurry inside his mind.

"God, and I like you so much, I just want this to be over so we can try out this dating thing and... I needed to ask, I'm so sorry." Louis kept apologising because he knew that a conversation like this one would make their relationship tremble, it was a sure thing.

"I... do you... do you remember where this place was?" Harry asked, confusing Louis too much. What did that matter now? Everything had happened already. Knowing where it had been of no special implication on the story.

"Yeah. It was Allyn Williams. Near the royal academy of arts" Louis answered, afraid that if he refused, everything would turn on against him.

"Oh god..." Harry murmured under his breath, realising something so big and terrifying.

"What Haz?"

"Look I... " he didn't know how to phrase it, how to phrase what had happened to him that same night. It looked like finally, he would tell that story to someone other than Niall. "Isabella, my fiancee, had started labour that morning. We... We were in our nest, waiting for labour to progress..." he had never thought that talking about it would be so tough. "Late at night, almost midnight she starts pushing. I... I was helping her as much as I could. She was a beta. We had been told that our baby looked fine, so we decided to have him at home. We should have known it was stupid, but we did it anyway," He was afraid he would start crying, but right then Louis started petting his hair and he could calm down slightly. "When Theo's head crowned she stopped pushing and passed out, she... I was taking her pulse and it was fading..." he stopped, swallowing the knot in his throat. He remembered it so clearly, watching Isabella leave earthside, seeing how her life just faded away.

"Baby..." Louis murmured, but Harry continued as if nothing.

"So I panicked and I held her and... I just had this huge meltdown. Now that I think about it I should have acted quicker and maybe they'd still be here." He was so broken. He seriously had forgotten how tough it was to voice what happened that night. "I panicked until I remembered that Theo hadn't been born yet and I had to do something," Louis was listening intently, having a hard time believing that they both went through such losses practically at the same time. "I pulled him out of her and just... All this blood came out in gushes. I tried to wake her up but I couldn't. I... I remember taking a look down at my boy and seeing him with his eyes closed. He had this peace in him, looked heaven-sent. That's when I realised he had passed away too"

Louis went for his hand, trying to comfort him somehow. Losing a significant other was so tough, he wouldn't wish that pain on anybody. But losing a child? God, that had been the toughest thing he had ever gone through.

"Oh, Haz..." Louis murmured, caressing his cheek and wiping away a lonely tear that had escaped the confinement of his beautiful emerald green eyes.

"So I took a minute to say my goodbyes and then left... I- I shifted into my wolf and ran away to the forest. I honestly don't know for how long I ran, or where I was headed. I just needed to leave. They say wolves don't feel human emotions so much but it's the biggest lie ever." Harry reciprocated Louis' touch, wanting to keep himself slightly distracted and avoid breaking down again. "That was when I heard a baby cry"

Louis' breath hitched, feeling the anticipation as the story continued but also dreading what he was sure was to come.

"I ran towards the sound as fast as I could until I found a bundle of white towels stained with blood. I... I remember shifting back and finding this tiny, really tiny baby crying its lungs out. And I got really mad because how could someone do that? I... I just took her home, lied to the paramedics and told them Theo and she were twins and just... I kept her," Harry looked away, trying to keep tears at bay. "I like to think I did it only because the adoption system is shit, but the truth is I was selfish. I needed something to invest myself in to forget about the pain, and it was her. Sweet little Eve" he finished his story there, looking at his daughter with crystallized eyes. "I guess you know how the story continues"

"Oh my God" those were the only three words Louis was able to let out of his mouth.

"God..." Harry pronounced after a couple of seconds. Truth to be told he needed to get out of the feeling of sadness that surrounded him to put two and two together. And then he felt as astonished as Louis was. Now it all made sense, those similarities no one could ever explain now had a reason, the connection Eve and Louis had gained over the years made so much more sense now. How could have they not realized it before? "We're saying I've raised your daughter for the past five years... that's just... nuts"

"I know, babe" Louis made himself comfortable, popping his legs up on Harry's lap and almost sitting on him. Everything felt so rough, so truthful it hurt, raw for that matter. The alpha looked deep into the blue of Louis's eyes, which could only show disbelief and sadness, and clinging to the last bit of self-composure he had, he pleaded.

"Don't take her away from me" and he just broke down crying.

"Of course not, Harry" Louis said immediately, approaching him even more and giving back the hug he was receiving as fiercely. "How can you even think that?" He wiped away the tears that kept falling down his face, both too immersed in the realization of what Eve could actually be, of who she might actually be. "You don't take her away from me," Louis asked, suddenly realizing that Harry was the one that out of freaking out could separate them. And that was somehow the most painful thought he had had in a really long time. "She's yours and she will always be. But please, now that I think I found her let me be part of her life, your life too" Louis asked, to what Harry nodded, both still unable to further formulate any words. That conversation had left them drained of how intense it had been, how eye-opening.

"You know I... I always despised her biological parents. Honestly, I thought I would never meet them but if I would have I... I would have torn their throats open." He said the last bit with a voice filled with hate. "How can you do that to a child? How can you leave a newborn pup out in the woods and not feel bad about it? How can you keep on living?" Louis cupped his cheeks, looking deep into his eyes.

"I don't know who did this, but be sure we will find them" Louis stated, drowning himself in the sad green of Harry's orbs.

"Now that I know it's you... It has always been you, I... I don't know what I feel anymore. I don't know who to direct this hate to" he mumbled, looking at Louis' eyes and not finding a single ounce of evil, instead finding the purest soul to ever exist.

"Babe... We'll be okay. We'll find out who did this and... It'll be okay," and Louis was more than anything trying to protect himself, to make himself believe everything would be just fine.

"I want to do a DNA test, just to be sure," Harry said, a couple of minutes later and once his tears had stopped streaming down his face. Of course, taking a DNA test was a sensible idea, much needed to confirm what they both were almost undoubtedly taking as the truth.

"Of course, I'll go get a kit later and drop it off at the lab" Louis commented, burrowing his face deeper into the side of Harry's arm, not wanting to be seen.

They stayed like that for a while, drowning in the comfortable silence. Louis had been wondering for almost a week if all Liam had told him was just a huge bunch of nonsense, and now, albeit he couldn't say he knew for sure, he could breathe because Harry and he had talked. And it was just so ambiguous because on one side he felt like he could finally breathe, and on the other one he felt like his world was falling apart. On Harry's side though, feelings were much different. He had now this anger with no target that flooded him completely. Back then it had always been directed to Eve's biological parents for leaving her in the woods, but now that he had met who was most likely her mother he just didn't know what to do. He couldn't find it in himself to hate Louis, and he knew it wasn't his fault. But whose was it? He needed to know.

They both watched Eve sleep until eventually, they fell as well, drifting off not much later. Talking that out, at least to Louis, had been exhausting. And that had been for sure one of the best decisions he had ever taken in his life, although he was certainly carrying some heavy weight on his chest. Nothing could compare to the freedom he felt as he fell asleep on Harry's arms. Now that could be it, she could be what he had been missing for over five years, and although no one would ever be able to erase the desolation and anguish he felt ever since he lost his daughter, he now may be able to put an end to it. And he never actually realised how much he needed to do so. That on the good side, and on the bad side, this could still be just a trick of fate and he could still be hit with reality once again, showing him that such coincidences were possible.

When Louis woke up not much later, he thanked all the gods above that Eve was still sound asleep and so was Harry. He just needed a moment to be on his own, to try and restore the peace in his mind. Good thing he didn't even begin because just as his eyes were laid on the sleeping girl in front of him it all went to waste.

He broke Harry's hold on him as swiftly as he could, trying to break free from the prison of his arms to approach the little omega on the bed. And when he managed to do so he faced a grumpy, still asleep Harry that frowned and searched around until he found a pillow and clung tightly to it. Louis could only think about how cute and sweet the alpha was.

He approached the bed, being mindful of his own health and pain and when he finally got there, he faced the beautiful semblance of Eve. And she was right there, so perfect, so beautiful, so _his_. It couldn't be denied anymore, she looked so much like him, like Zayn. Her hair, perfectly straight and down to her waist, shined with a beautiful brunette colour that was awfully similar to his own. Her facial structure, the sharpness of her features reminded him so much of Zayn it was unbearable. And she was right there, she had been there all along those years of suffering.

He carefully took her hand into his and kneeled on the floor, wanting to be as close to her as possible. He brought her hand to his mouth, leaving little kisses on the backside of it and holding up so many tears. Many of joy, many of anger, and many, many more of pure resentment. Who could have done this to him? Who could have taken a child away from their mother?

"Who would do this to us?" He asked, directing the question to no one. "Who would want to tear us apart?" He was so broken, destroyed. But he had found his rock, and he'd learn to get better, back to who he was. "I'm so glad Harry found you, I'm so glad he raised you into the beautiful, loving girl you are now," he vented, wanting to get the pressure out of his chest. He was letting some tears roll down his cheeks in a much needed moment of unburdening. He needed to heal so badly. "And now I'm here. We'll be together again, baby girl, and I promise you I will never ever leave your side," he promised, kissing her hand and nuzzling her as he could.

"Lou?" Louis heard Harry's hoarse voice from behind him and all of a sudden it was all too much. Everything was too much.

"Alpha," he whined, turning around and letting Harry see all the tears that were decorating his cheeks. He let a painful whimper leave his throat in the most instinctual way possible, letting Harry know with just one sound that he wasn't okay.

Harry wasted no time and with all the care in the world picked the omega up, placing him on his lap. Louis immediately went to his neck, nuzzling at his scent gland so he could calm himself down.

"Shh, omega," Harry shushed him, rocking back and fort and soothing the crying creature he so desperately wanted in his life. "It's okay to feel that way,"

Louis could only sob, wanting to go further into Harry's neck, make himself so small he would disappear in the frame of the alpha. Harry proceeded to scent him, scent him hard, which effectively calmed Louis down but also made him a whining mess. He needed to be held, to be comforted. He had never felt so strongly that way, he had never been ao vulnerable.

"It's her. I can feel it," Louis stated; his voice trembling, still buried deep into Harry's embrace, calming down even more as Harry continued on rocking him back and forth.

"I know. And I know she feels it, too,"

"You think so?" Louis tried pulling away. He wanted to look at Harry in the eye, but nevertheless, the alpha didn't let him.

"I know so,"

"How?" The omega was so broken, made into a thousand little pieces, so little they resembled dust.

"She's always loved you. So much. I... Until now I could never understand how you two would bond so well" Harry explained; his soothing voice filling the room up. Louis went silent, waiting for Harry to continue. "For the longest time, I thought it was just the way you worked, and I just adjudicated it to the fact that you are a great doctor," Harry paused for a moment. "But now that we know? Everything makes sense, everything is falling into place. And I know it hurts, baby, it hurts so much. But we'll get through this because we're strong, and overall we're together. And that's what matters,"

Louis had finally ceased crying but was still in much need of comfort. So he stayed there, bundled up in the body heat of the alpha he liked so much, wanting to hide away and never come back. He felt like his soul was naked, and if Harry was one tiny bit less of an angel he wouldn't be sure if he would break apart like this in front of him. But he trusted him so deeply, with everything he was and had. That was why they were soulmates, that was why he had felt like he did all those months ago. He was it. He was everything he had ever searched for and everything he'd ever need.

"Papa?"

A little voice was what poked their bubble, at least for Harry. Louis was still too immersed in his own state to even notice.

"Is Lou okay?" She asked, seeing the prospect.

"No baby, he's not. He needs a cuddle and that's why he's on my lap," Harry explained patiently, looking at how his newly awakened daughter looked at him with everything but confusion now.

"Will he be?" Louis managed to pull away slightly, finding it in him to finally look at Eve in the eyes. And Harry didn't know what to answer.

And they were so blue, so much like his own.

"I can cuddle him, too," Eve offered, making Harry smile sweetly.

"We can both cuddle him, what do you think?" Harry asked her, standing up ever so slowly so he wouldn't hurt the fragile omega in his arms. He looked at Louis in the eye, wanting to know if it was okay for him to cuddle with his newly-found daughter. He nodded, almost imperceptibly.

"I want to," Eve said, rubbing her eye as she had just woken up.

Harry made his way to Eve's bed, and once she scooted over to the left side he lay down there, not before carefully placing Louis in the middle. The male omega was quick to cling to Harry's chest once he accommodated himself and felt the comfort of tiny little arms spooning him from behind.

Arms he had created, from a girl that had come from him entirely, born from what he once thought was love but now knew it was just a facade.

With all the newly-learned facts flooding his mind he lets himself get some sleep. Truth to be told he hadn't been sleeping well those past few days when he was alone and trying to process everything. Harry's warmth beside him and the little arms hugging him from behind were all the comfort he needed to finally get some decent sleep. That and their scents were everything Louis needed right then and there.


	20. Chapter XVIII

More than a week had to pass by for the medical team to even consider sending Eve home. The little omega had been having a marvellous recovery, healing quite fast, which wasn't the norm for omegas. Usually, alphas were the fastest to recover, and surprisingly enough, her healing rate could be compared to the other gender's. Maybe it was that she was only five years old; children are always more resilient.

She had been started on the oral immunosuppressants she would have to take as long as she lived, that to guarantee she wouldn't eventually reject the graft. Such medication had helped her become less dependant on the intravenous medication, which meant more freedom, which also meant having Louis and Harry practically running around trying to keep up with her. She had been up and down the whole hospital, usually with both Harry and Louis by her side, explaining to her everything she saw.

Back comes the memory of that one time they went to the labour and delivery ward, paying Liam a visit, actually. She had seen all the newborn pups in the nursery —through the window, of course— and she loved it so much that she wouldn't shut up about it. She easily talked about it for three days afterwards and always asked to go see them again. She loved how they looked like her dolls and how fun it would be to have one. She even dared ask Harry for a little sibling to play with. Luckily, that happened while Louis was in the bathroom so that spared him the thought of his infertility issues. 

About Louis' newly-found maternity, everything had settled in quite nicely. Well, as nicely as something of the sort could ever settle. It had been the worst the first couple of days; Louis having to fight his instincts of behaving like Eve's mum when everything, even the DNA test stated that they were a match for over 99.9 per cent. It had been just so shocking, way too overwhelming. Of course, they cried they lungs out again and held each other throughout it all, feeling a mix of emotions at the confirmation of what they already knew. Finally and only after a discussion he had with Harry about if they should tell her or not, he was able to act almost like he always had. Of course, such thing would be impossible now that Louis knew, that they knew, the little girl's precedence. 

They had decided not to tell her that Louis was her mum and that Harry wasn't actually her dad, for a few years at least. The pup was still too young to fully understand, only five years old, and it would save them a fair share of encountered emotions and confusion. Eventually, they would discuss the subject again and see what they would do but for now, they would try to go back to normal. Or as close to normal as humanly possible. 

When it came to Louis and Harry as a unit, things were progressing in the right direction. One would say that given the situation they were in, their relationship would be put in the background, but it had actually brought them closer together. Truth to be told, they had held each other during the worst moments in their lives and now that everything was falling into place it was only logical that they would, too, as a couple. Louis had been staying at the hospital keeping Harry and Eve company. In fact, he hadn't stepped foot in his penthouse ever since he had left a week before. They just needed to be strong and for that, they needed to remain together. And Louis was glad, certainly. He wouldn't trade it for anything. He wouldn't trade the evenings with Eve and Harry, all curled up in bed and watching Disney films, he wouldn't trade seeing the happiness spread in the little omega's face every time she managed to properly write a word. He wouldn't trade them for anything. 

Talking about their relationship, that day would be the one they'd go on the date. They had wanted to wait until Eve was out of the hospital so they wouldn't worry as much, but ever since Niall found out that Louis had asked Harry out he had been pressuring them to go. Well, mostly Harry since he didn't know Louis enough and, although he was quite outgoing and not particularly shy, he knew it wouldn't be nice to force a date on Louis. So he forced it on Harry, whom he knew ever since he could remember. He offered —more likely stated as if it were a fact— to care for Eve at night so they could go on and have their long-awaited date, and after some minutes of denying and excuses, Harry said yes. The blonde omega was something else, more so now that he had finally found a mate and had fallen pregnant. The blonde leprechaun was particularly more excited about everything, filled with hormones and excitement about meeting his new pup or pups.

So, with that, the soon-to-be couple would leave at five pm to get dressed and such, to go on their rendezvous at seven. And Eve was more than happy. Not because she knew about her father and Louis' imminent relationship if not for the fact that uncle Niall would visit, and ever since she learned he was pregnant she had quite some questions to ask him. It wasn't as if she didn't like him before, but now that he was expecting she had grown even fonder of him. So that would ve a very well spent evening for everyone. 

And Louis was all over the place, letting the nerves and the anxiousness flood him. Harry would pick him up from his place at seven and they'd go from there. He honestly hated not knowing what to expect but the alpha had said that he had it all under control and that it would be a surprise. And Louis sort of hated surprises, kind of. 

"Are you sure you want to stay with uncle Niall tonight?" Louis asked the omega girl for the umpteenth time, hoping she'd say she wanted to stay with them instead so he wouldn't have to worry. Blame anxiety. 

"Yes! And he has a baby in his tummy, and I want to meet it, so I'm staying with him," Eve stated, again, pretty sure of her words. 

"You know that if you ever miss us or want to be with us you can call, right?" Harry told his daughter.

The clock was almost marking five o'clock, which meant they'd have to leave to have time to prepare for everything. And oh boy, they were really nervous. 

"Yes, papa," said the girl, rolling her blue eyes. 

"Well then, uncle Niall should be here any minute,"

Harry kissed his daughter's forehead and sat beside her on her bed. She wasn't feeling off or anything, she just wanted to draw and she loved to do so on the side table. The doctors were keeping her admitted only out of fear she wasn't recovered enough, but the little girl felt okay.

Harry and Louis shared a look, which made both of their cheeks turn slightly red. That evening they would finally take the first official step towards the relationship they had longed for, and although they had been in compromising situations before, this would be the first time that it'd be official, intentional even. So it was evident that the matter was putting an important amount of weight over their shoulders. 

Just as they were expecting, Niall knocked on the door at quarter to five. They had asked him to be there early so they could explain to him how everything worked in case he or Eve were to need anything. The omega was already showing his pregnancy, sporting a low and round bump. And he was glowing, shining with the brightest light. 

Harry stood up and went straight to hug his best friend, being slightly taken aback with how strongly he smelt of pregnancy. His pheromones were all over the place, and that wasn't unusual -Niall had always been like that- but rather stronger than normal. 

"Niall, you're glowing!" Harry exclaimed, hugging his friend tight and catching a glimpse of his mate right behind them. 

"Yeah?" He asked, hugging his best friend tightly. He had missed him, and luckily he had got the chance to see him before he started nesting.

"Mate, you're so pregnant" Harry stated.

"In fact, you do smell quite strongly" Louis added, breaking the hug off. They weren't too close, but just enough to joke around. 

"Louis, Eve, hi!" The blonde omega greeted him, walking past Harry to greet the other two omegas in the room while Harry greeted Shawn, Niall's alpha. 

"Do you mind if I stay? I'm not too keen on leaving Niall alone" Shawn asked politely, and after Harry agreed he stepped in, greeting the rest.

"Uncle Ni! How's the baby in your tummy?" and of course, that was the question Eve had to blurt out. Don't blame her though, she was really excited about Niall's baby.

"He's doing quite well, thanks for asking"

"He?" Harry asked, clearly hearing the pronouns used by his best friend.

"Yes, we're having one little boy," Niall said, putting a hand on his stomach and feeling proud. 

"Congratulations!" Said Harry and Louis, but they immediately faced a pouting Eve; her arms crossed over his chest.

"Hey, honey, what's wrong?" Niall asked her, sitting on her bed and being stared at by his mate and friends. However nicely Niall approached her, she didn't answer. 

"I think I know," Louis said, approaching her as well. "You told me the other day you wanted Niall to have a girl, didn't you?" Eve nodded, lowering her head and pouting. 

"Oh, but it's okay honey. A boy is just as fun as a girl. You get to play with him and teach him everything you know. Aren't you excited about that?" Niall talked to her sweetly, trying to convince her that a boy was just as nice. And she nodded, slightly, still disappointed that she wouldn't have a female friend to play with. "Besides, you never know. Our next pup or pups could all be girls. You'd be in heaven, wouldn't you?" Niall cracked a laugh and made Eve smile a little, erasing the frown and pout form her face.

"You promise?" She asked hopefully

"Aw, honey, we can't promise you that. But believe that anything can happen" Niall and Eve shared a hug and then they settled.

It actually took them more than fifteen minutes to teach Niall and Shawn what to do in every possible situation. There were just way too many things to go over, but once Niall signed the statement that made him Eve's companion they said goodbye.

"You will call if anything, okay?" Harry said, looking at Niall with a serious countenance. 

"And you'll keep us updated", Louis said after, still not liking the idea of leaving Eve to go on a date. It hadn't been the most responsible decision, but after a bit of a discussion with Niall, the three of them agreed that they needed to have some time for themselves after everything that had happened. And they deserved it, for sure. 

"Of course. Off you go, have fun. Tell me everything afterwards," oh Niall, always so cheerful. 

He pushed them away so they would actually leave, because if you gave them a reason to stay they would without hesitation. They shared a look, of unsureness more than anything, and after seeing Niall smile at them rather playfully they walked away.

They made their way to the front door of the hospital in deep silence, which for the first time in five years felt pretty uncomfortable. They were embracing the fact that they had feelings for each other, they were going on a date. Of course, they would be all shy and blushing. So when they got there and they had to say goodbye for the time being, they didn't know what to do.

"Well..." started Harry. "I guess I'll just see you in a couple of hours," and he was so awkward it was cute.

"Sure," said Louis, playing with his hands. "Do I have to dress up?" He asked, looking up at the alpha with shiny blue eyes. And the alpha melted right there and then. 

"Nope, just casual," and he had to look down because the blue of his eyes was just too mesmerizing. "Whatever you feel comfortable in," 

"'Kay" Louis stepped up and planted a kiss on his cheek right before leaving. "See you at seven," and he left, leaving behind a blushed flustered Harry.


	21. Chapter XIX

Louis had been a mess right from the get-go. He had kissed Harry on the cheek -not for the first time but still- and left all blushed, and had never driven so absently in his whole life. And care to say, he was a pretty good driver. His mind was just in another place, with Harry, imagining every possible outcome of their date, so much that he ran past a red light and almost ran over an elder lady. Forgive him, but he was a 29-year-old behaving like a teenager just because he had a date. 

He got to his house with an hour and a half to take a shower and decide how he was going to dress up. And he certainly had no idea because all Harry said was that he had to be casual, nothing else. Maybe he could try and look on the fancy side of causal, or maybe he could not. He certainly had no idea. And of course, nervous as he was, he took more time than needed in the shower. He just needed to relax and sadly, he could not find any comfort in the warm running water of the shower. 

When he managed to drag himself out of the bathroom he was faced with the fact that he had less than an hour to decide what to wear and how to do his hair. And oh boy, did he need time to do his hair, especially now that it was slightly longer. He had so little time and still could not move faster than 2 miles an hour, it was frustrating. 

He faced his closet, full of clothes he wasn't sure he fit in anymore, and just looked at it for a while. Maybe he could go with the typical skinny jeans, plain t-shirt and a jacket on top, paired with Vans, but Harry had already seen him one too many times in that outfit. He'd have to be creative. 

He pulled out the nicest pair of black skinny jeans he could find, ones that did not have anything ripped -although it was flattering-. He found the pair he was looking for, those that were slightly high-waisted and clung to his curves like a glove. Those were a must in situations like this. He put himself in them, being careful of not harming his still-healing wound. 

The problem came when he had to choose a top. He had so many tee shirts it was overwhelming and practically impossible to choose one. He pulled a white one out but immediately discarded it after deeming it way too simple, and it was after he made a pile of plain, graphic and patterned tee shirts on his bedroom floor that he decided on wearing a long-sleeved, deep red one he had that showed his collar bones quite nicely. Yeah, he'd win with that one, showing slightly more than he was accustomed to. He even took the time to blow-dry his hair in a quiff, making it so his facial features would be more enhanced. He really made himself look like a snack and still dress casual enough. 

So after stepping on his red Vans, he left, choosing to wait for Harry at the entrance of the building. Truth to be told he was a wreck; anxiousness filling him up as he didn't know what to expect at all. That until he saw Harry's car show up at his entrance; a white Chevrolet SUV with polarized windows stopping at the gate of the fancy housing complex he lived in. And he swore his hands had never been so sweaty ever before. 

"Hi," Harry pulled down the window on the passenger side and unlocked the door so Louis could get in. And he did; the omega looking pretty nervous and embarrassed, sporting a cute flush over his neck and cheeks. "You look..." Harry's eyes wandered down Louis' torso, getting lost in the little bit of flesh he left to be seen. "Gorgeous," 

"Hi," he greeted the alpha back, fastening his seatbelt. "Thanks. You too look handsome yourself," and he sounded way more confident than he felt. Harry was wearing a white blazer over a black tee-shirt and some dark washed skinny jeans, all paired with a pair of chestnut coloured Chelsea boots. And he was so pretty. 

Harry drove off into the driveway; the car sinking into an incredibly uncomfortable silence, awkward even. 

"Why... I... Where are we going?" Louis asked, not being able to cope with the silence. 

"You'll have to wait and see," said Harry, concentrated on the road ahead. 

"But that's not fair, I want to know where you're taking me," Louis protested, trying to leave aside the feeling of uneasiness that came with a first date. 

"I told you it's a surprise," Harry answered, but then added, feeling a tad unsure: "I just... don't expect anything too fancy. I know you're used to that kind of thing but this... I... it holds a really special place in my heart," he said, feeling unsure. 

"Aw Haz, I'm sure I'll love it," Louis reassured him, wanting to lay a hand on Harry's thigh as he drove but stopping himself halfway. He thought about it, for far too long, but ended up deciding that they were on a date, an actual date, and if he wanted to lay his hand on his date's thigh he could do so. Or at least he hoped. So he went to town, laying his right hand on Harry's left thigh. Harry's breath hitched at the touch, but he visibly relaxed once he noted that Louis' hand wasn't going anywhere. 

The drive was quite a long one, but they eventually made it to a really quiet part of town, not quite the outskirts but almost. All the houses around were family homes and you could breathe in an air of tranquillity. Harry had been pretty quiet during the rest of the drive, and even more the closer they got to their destination. 

Eventually, they made it to a small restaurant in front of a square; the town looking almost too old to be true. The restaurant was small and didn't look to be expensive at all, but the surroundings were enough to make Louis shiver. The square looked like it had some sort of historical value, and it was all lighted up by old lanterns; the streets dress in pavement stones instead of cement. They were close to the shore, too; the lighthouse being visible from where they were standing. Everything looked so ethereal, like the place wasn't even real, so much that very few people were walking the streets. At that moment Louis wondered why that place was almost empty when it was so beautiful. And the craziest thing was that Louis, having travelled to countless places in the UK and out of it too, had never ever been there himself. 

Harry got out of the car and quickly walked up to Louis' door to open it up for him. A simple gesture of chivalrous that set off the butterflies in Louis' stomach. He murmured a small 'thank you' and took the hand Harry offered him, leaving the car too gracefully for his liking. And outside the car, the sight was even more breathtaking, the smell more intoxicating. No place would ever top that one. 

"I know it's not as fancy as you're used to, but it's really special to me" 

And Louis looked at Harry right from below, first time that he actually liked the idea of being shorter than him, and all he could think about was kissing him. His eyes were so shiny and green, so beautiful that they managed to draw him in even more, his scent as intoxicating as always, now mixed with the scents of fresh pine in the beginnings of June. Everything was ideal, perfect even. 

"Are you kidding?" Louis asked, still not letting go of Harry's hand and still not looking away from the green of his eyes. "This place is beautiful, I don't know how I've never been here before" 

"You haven't?" Louis shook his head, letting his lips take the shape of a small smile. "Well, let's go in, shall we?" 

Harry placed his hand in the small of Louis' back and walked him into the restaurant, which conveniently had a deck with only one table for two in the middle of it, all decorated with fairy lights. Everything looked really romantic, idyllic even. The table was decorated with a crystal flower pot and a rose, a cream coloured table cloth with a thin golden stripe down the middle of it and two long candles for illumination. On the floor of the deck lay red rose petals, which trailed down to the small steps that led to the deck. 

"Harry, this place is unbelievable" Louis murmured, walking up the steps to the deck, to which Harry only smiled, grateful that the omega had liked it. 

The alpha pulled the chair so Louis could sit, another chivalrous gesture that made the omega blush. How could he not notice the gentleman he had in front of him in the five years he had known him? 

"You're really polite" Louis complimented. 

"Thank you" Harry answered, taking his own seat at the table. 

"This place is everything. How did you set this up in such a short time?" Louis asked, taking another look at his beautiful surroundings. 

"Well, let's say I called in some favours," the alpha said with a cheeky tone but with a serious face. 

"Don't say it like that! You look like the head of a mafia or something" 

"Who said I'm not?" Harry asked back, trying to remain serious. 

"You're too much of a sweetheart to run a mafia, sorry Haz," and Harry cracked the smile he was holding, beaming with happiness after being called a sweetheart. 

"You're right, I'm too soft," 

It was amazing how easy it was for them to talk, to flirt even. It was as if that date wasn't actually necessary for them to fall in love. It acted as a sort of catalyst. 

"Yeah, but actually, how did you manage to set this up, huh?" 

"I... The owner of this restaurant is a friend of mine. This place isn't meant to be elegant, but when I told him I'd bring you he..." The alpha tried to phrase it correctly. "Insisted on setting all of this up," 

"That's a nice friend you've got there. I don't think anyone I know would ever pull this off for me," 

"I'm not so sure about that, Lou," 

Just as Harry finished his sentence, Emmett, the owner of the place and Harry's dear friend went to take their order. He was an alpha in his late forties, verging on fifties, and sported what once had been deep black hair but now was mixed in with grey hairs. And he seemed very nice, transparent even. 

"Good evening Harry, Louis," he greeted them, smiling widely. "What a beautiful omega you've picked for yourself, Haz. Congratulations," Louis blushed profusely while Harry only smiled, watching his potential mate sink in bashfulness. 

"Isn't he beautiful?" Harry asked, making Louis blush even deeper. 

"Indeed," Louis felt flattered, of course, but weirdly enough he was letting his omega take over him, receiving all the compliments and rejoicing in them. "Here are your menus. Feel free to call me over when you've picked what you'll eat," Emett left two rectangular, leather-covered menus on top of their plates and left, not without hiving them one last smile. 

"I have to warn you, I... This is a pizza place. They have o-other things, too, but... Mainly pizza," Harry said, self-conscious about the place he had picked. 

"Haz, pizza is fine" Louis reassured, smiling at him with warmth. "Actually, this place is amazing, I don't know why I never came before," 

"It's pretty well hidden, per se," 

They stayed in silence for a short amount of time, checking the menus and trying to pick something off of it. 

"Should we just... Pick one pizza for both of us and do half and half with the toppings?" Louis suggested, looking at all the delicious options there were. 

"Sure! I want mushrooms and olives over, you?" 

"Yours is a good one. Basil and cherry tomatoes?" Louis wasn't so sure about his, but he liked sharing. 

"Not bad. And to drink? I'm driving so nothing alcoholic for me" he pulled a sad face, liking the idea of a beer or wine. 

"Yeah, me either. I tend to over speak when I drink so no alcohol for me too. I'll have some water," Louis decided, closing the menu and leaving it aside. 

"Me too" 

Harry called Emmet back and ordered for everything, handing over both of the menus to make it quick. He was so eager to get to know Louis even more than he did. 

"So, how is it that you know this place?" Louis asked, placing both of his elbows on the table and resting his head on his hands, paying extreme attention to the alpha. 

"I used to come here with my mates when I was a teen. We'd sneak out past our bedtime and spend our savings in pizza and beer," Harry shared his fond memory, looking behind his shoulder to where the church was almost visible. 

"You lived nearby?" The omega asked. 

"I was raised in an orphanage," Harry said without stuttering. Louis' face changed slightly at that, not because of disgust if not of pity. He had known Harry for over five years yet he never knew he grew up in an orphanage. "And I know it may seem awful, but it could've been worse. I love that place to bits. You saw the church when we first arrived, right? Well, the orphanage was another building in the backyard of it," Harry explained, fondly reminiscing of his teenagehood. 

"You really seem to love that place," the omega murmured, unsure of what to say. 

"I mean, it's the only thing I've ever known. The closest thing to a mother I've ever had is still working there" 

"You were never adopted?" Harry shook his head, still smiling softly. "Why? I mean, not even as a baby?" 

"There was this couple that wanted to adopt me when I was six, but their house caught on fire a few days before they were supposed to pick me up so... I just had to stay there," and deep down Harry was glad he was never adopted. He wasn't like the other kids, he never actually dreamed of having a family. 

"Oh. You seem so fine with it, I... I don't know how to react," Louis mentioned, feeling quite unsure of how to approach the subject. 

"Lou, I'm fine with it, really. You can ask me anything you want" and Harry, with all his harry-ness, managed once again to melt Louis' heart. 

"Do you know anything about your birth parents?" Louis started, talking quietly. 

"I don't," Harry said simply. 

"And aren't you curious?" 

"Of what? There's a reason why they left me there. You know I don't like bothering people so, if I wasn't welcome as a baby, I don't think I will be welcome now," Louis was shocked at how he could talk about it without stuttering, without a single ounce of negative feelings. 

"You've got a point there," Louis mumbled. "But, how did you manage to survive when you turned eighteen?" And he couldn't stop asking. He was so curious about it, the only part of Harry's life he never got to know. 

"They actually let me stay there until I turned twenty-one. They loved me too much, I guess," Louis giggled lightly, imagining a young Harry crawling his way into the staff's hearts. He then came to the conclusion that it wasn't hard work, Harry was very easy to love. 

"And afterwards?" 

"I moved in with my girlfriend at the time," and Harry's cheerfulness of before slowly took a turn; smiles and dimples significantly decreasing. That was how Louis knew it wasn't his place to ask. "Tell me about you. How was your childhood?" 

"One word. Problematic," Louis said, respecting Harry's choice of changing the topic. 

"How so?" 

"Well, I was the second born in one of the most prestigious families of the UK," Louis started. 

"That doesn't seem so bad," Harry protested. 

"Believe me, it is. When my parents found out I was a boy they wanted me to be an alpha so badly, you know, traditional stuff. Well, guess what happened? I turned out to be an omega, and my father took the time and effort to remind me and hold it back against me. As if I could change it, y' know?" 

"Ugh. You're making me miss the orphanage" they both chucked slightly and Louis went on. 

"I guess it died down when I was six and Charlotte was born. Another omega, of course. So basically, to sum up, my parents kept having children and trying to get that alpha male that would inherit everything and such, having a grand total of seven kids. And let me tell you, no alpha male," Harry's face filled with surprise at the mention of the number. 

"Holy cow. How did you survive with so many siblings?" Harry asked, quite surprised by the upper class. 

"We just get on really well. We're omegas and betas only, and were really close so I guess that bit wasn't actually torture. What it was, though, is the fact that up until I was twenty three I was the only male." 

"Really?" 

"Yes. Little Ernest and little Doris are turning seven in two months." Louis talked proudly of his youngest siblings, loving them to death. 

"Talk about numerous families," Harry murmured, paying attention to the small pictures Louis was showing him. He had their picture on his wallet, and he smiled widely at the sight of the boy with long blonde hair and a pacifier in his mouth. "They're so cute!" 

"I know. One of the best things you can say to me," 

"I'm glad I did, then," Louis blushed slightly at that, still having to get used to this Harry that was actually comfortable with flirting. 

Eventually, their food came and they started eating and talking, really liking the fact that for once they were alone and allowed to behave as they wanted towards each other, and it wouldn't be weird. 

"I've been wanting to ask. How are you holding up? You know, after all, we've been..." He didn't have to keep talking for Louis to understand what he meant. 

"I... It's so weird. I have like this pull inside me that wants me to behave like her mum, and it's so hard to resist it," Louis explained, gesticulating at his chest. "And I don't know how to stand before her. Am I her mum? I mean, is it really my place to do such things?" 

"I think you should do what comes naturally to you. Now that we know I can tell that you have always behaved motherly towards her, kind of. You just let your instincts talk for you," 

"But isn't it weird? It's all up to you in the end," Louis said, wanting so much to be the mum Eve never had, to fill the void the girl mus have been feeling all her life 

"Eve is complete when she's with you. She's brighter than ever, happier than ever. So are you. You complement each other," Louis blushed, biting down on his slice of pizza. "And she needs it so much... A mum. She's never asked about it but I know she does... What I want to say is, that if it comes to you, you should behave as your instinct tells you to. I'm sure it'll be the best thing for both of you," 

"I don't like that you're leaving yourself out of the picture. You're her dad. You were the one that picked her up and raised her, and I'm so glad you did, Haz," Louis was really thankful that it was Harry the one to come across her and not another wolf. "Look, if I had been given the chance to raise her... I would've been happy with less than half of all you ever did," 

Louis managed to tear up a little; his inner omega feeling safe enough to demonstrate how sad and hurt it felt by the fact that he wasn't able to raise his daughter up. Harry, being the sweetheart he is, put the palm of his hand right on Louis' left cheek and wiped away the lonely tear that escaped his eye. 

"Lou, do you believe in the fates?" Harry asked with the most beautiful sparkle in his eyes, leaving Louis once again speechless. "Then, I know it might sound weird, even tasteless, but I think that all the pain we were put through was for us to get better together," he extended his free hand and took Louis' right hand into his, engulfing it in warmth. Louis' eyes got glossy once again. 

"We've been through so much, even in the same day," Louis managed to say; voice tinted with emotion. 

"This is too good to be true, you are too good to be true, and call me crazy but I really believe in us. I really think we can make it," Harry said surely, alternating his sight between Louis' beautiful eyes, not deciding which one was prettier. The omega leaned into the touch, feeling secure and protected. 

"I trust you so much, Haz. Right now you could do anything you wanted with me, I'm just adrift," Louis mumbled, feeling incredibly lost in the forest of Harry's eyes. "I... I wasn't one to believe in alpha-omega bonds before. I just thought they were sure self-destruction of the omega, of their freedom, that it just made them mere beings who only knew to submit," he was opening up his heart, and maybe what he was going to do was severely stupid, but it felt right. "Then I met you, and I'm actually mad that it took me so long to realize that not all alphas were bad, that not all of them inspired submission," he took a deep breath in, then he said it. "I know this is a pretty strong sentimental talk for a first date but... I... I actually felt it" 

Harry went silent, hoping that what he was about to hear was what he wanted to hear. Hope was visible through his transparent eyes. 

"When...?" The alpha managed to ask, still in deep hope. 

"You know, I never believed in that either, that omegas can pinpoint their mate when they see them. But then it happened to me when I was telling you Eve's diagnosis and it hit me like a wave" Louis' eyes were shining in an almost golden colour. He was glowing. 

"Lou..." Harry breathed out, not being able to contain the smile that escaped him. 

"I know... pretty strong topics for a first date. Sorry that I'm ruining this" Louis apologised, looking down for the first time. 

"No, you don't get to apologize, it's okay. Honestly, I wish you had told me earlier" Harry comforted him, lifting the omega's chin up with his left hand. 

"This... Dating thing... I don't know, I feel it's unnecessary like... We've known each other for five years now. There aren't any more trivial things to talk about," Louis laughed nervously, making Hardy grin like an idiot. They were both so smitten it was nauseatingly cute. 

"It's up to you. I want to give us a chance at this relationship thing, we actually deserve it, don't we?" Louis nodded, feeling his cheeks heat up at how bluntly Harry was speaking. This was it, it was up to him if they were to try being together or not. 

"But... We've only ever gone in one date —and it hasn't even finished yet—, how do we know it won't do more harm than good?" And blame the omega all you want, but it was only logical he'd be insecure. 

"Through communication, through trust. Isn't that what relationships are based on?" Harry said matter-of-factly, stroking the knuckles on Louis' right hand with his thumb. 

"Haz, I have to tell you, I'm useless. I most likely can't get pregnant, I really enjoy my independence... Basically, I'm a shit omega. I can't even cook anything decent other than pancakes from a box," and Harry laughed at that, displaying his dimples in all their glory. 

"And yet, you're perfect to me," Louis blushed once again, distracting himself in the strokes of Harry's hand. "This will work if we both want it to. We don't need anything else," the alpha succeeded in comforting the omega like he always did. "And for that matter, I'm a shitty alpha myself. Too soft to be taken seriously" Louis actually laughed at that, which was nothing but the truth. Harry was indeed a softie. 

"I dint think that's something bad... Alphas are lacking sensitivity these days," they both laughed it off, but rather sooner than later the atmosphere got extremely serious. "I trust you," Louis stated. 

"I know," Harry said surely, "And I trust you," 

"Good..." Louis trailed off until yet another issue came to his mind. "What about Eve?" 

"What about her?" Harry asked simply. 

"What do we tell her?" Louis shared his concern, holing Harry would be concerned too, but he was rather surprised when he saw that Harry wasn't worried at all. 

"I don't know... We could do it now or wait, whatever suits you best. Besides, she loves you so I don't think it'll be a problem," Harry answered with confidence, wanting Louis to say yes to the question that neither of them asked but was lingering in the atmosphere. 

"Maybe we could wait for a little while, just to settle in," Louis answered, realising too late that he was addressing the situation as if his response was affirmative already. 

They stayed in a shared silence for a while, letting all the details from the conversation sink in. For the first time in that evening though, they felt uncomfortably shy. 

"So..." They trailed off at the same time, laughing it off when they realised. 

"Do we give ourselves a shot at this?" Harry asked, looking at Louis set in the eye. And it was in that moment that Louis, getting the strength out of nowhere, just said it. 

"Fuck it, do you want to be my boyfriend or not?" 

Harry was surprised, to say the least, yet, he couldn't hide the smugness from his face. The omega had, once again, caught him off guard. 

"I do want to be your boyfriend," the alpha answered finally, making a huge smile appear on Louis' face. 

"You need to stop twirling around everything, sweetheart. Just go straight to the point," Louis tested the pet name on Harry, and even if it was just for the joke of it, he really liked how it rolled off of his tongue. 

"I'll try my best, dear," Harry answered and they both laughed it off, feeling all giddy and immensely happy after putting the tag boyfriends on themselves. 

The date went on for a little while after, both of them finishing their part of the pizza and laughing at something dumb for at least forty-five minutes straight. How come they had taken that long to realise they were meant to be? Now, butterflies were fluttering inside both of their stomachs and they couldn't feel better; drifting off in the high of being recently paired up. 

This was only the beginning of something beautiful. 


	22. Chapter XX

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little warning: there's smut ahead (god finally). I'll put this little emoji (hope you can see emojis) 😏 at the beginning and at the end. 
> 
> Without further adieu enjoy the nasty you little devils.

Eventually, the new couple had finished their meals and it was time to leave the restaurant. Harry had asked for the check and there it went, their first argument as a couple, to decide who would pay for their food. Eventually, after the encounter of two particularly stubborn people, Louis gave up and let his boyfriend pay for the meal. But needless to say, he held up a nice fight, like he always did. He was one feisty omega.

 _Boyfriend._ It still felt weird to the omega using that word on Harry. Weird but nice at the same time, like he was no longer in need of that something he had longed for all his life, deeply rooted in his being. He felt complete, annoyingly giddy, but complete nonetheless.

Once everything was paid for and settled, the alpha went to Louis' side of the table and like the gentleman he was, helped Louis up from his chair. The omega would say that it was unnecessary if asked, but truth to be told he liked having such kind of pamper, especially when sitting in the same position for longer than half an hour would make the incision in his stomach hurt. Harry saw him flinch slightly when he got up, but Louis didn't give it much thought to it, so Harry didn't have much of a choice there and didn't complain.

They walked off to the car, enjoying the warmth and beauty of the place silently but comfortably, liking being in the company of the other. Harry went as far as taking Louis' left hand into his and entwining their fingers; Louis feeling like a teenager at that, all flushed but happy.

When they got in the car Louis felt the need to thank him for everything, fearing that the end of such a magical time was over. He didn't want it to be, he wanted to be on that date for the rest of his life. So when the door on the driver's side closed and they were in the cocoon of the car, Louis spoke.

"Haz, it was a wonderful night. Thank you so much... For everything,"

"You're welcome, baby," Louis couldn't help it but blush slightly at the use of the pet name. "But, if you're up for it, I'd like to take you to a special place of mine," Harry offered.

"Yeah, of course," Louis answered, unable to say no to spending more time with his new boyfriend. Hopefully, they would bond someday, so Louis would proudly wear the mark of the alpha in his neck.

Harry started the engine and drove in the direction of the centre, but both of them knew they weren't going home. Instead, after a mere five minutes of driving, he turned right into an exit and drove for a little while through a small cobblestone road, evidently nearing the coast. Luckily, it was a beautiful and clear night so Louis wasn't worried that it was nearing ten pm. Besides, he was with Harry, nothing bad could happen to him as long as he had his alpha there.

Eventually, after fifteen minutes of driving in total, they reached the end of the road, from where the sea was already visible. Louis could sense that, yet again, this place held emotional value to Harry, and he was really glad that the aloha trusted him enough to bring him there.

They got off the car and immediately met at the front of it, holding hands as if they were desperate to show they were together, even if no one was around to see. Louis smiled warmly and took a look at his surroundings. The road ended just a mere ten to twelve meters away from a cliff that directly leads into the sea. They were still surrounded by tall trees; the scent of the forest filling their noses up, but Louis was still able to take a glimpse at the cliff, which was actually tree-free, just a nice and large patch of grass before disappearing into the edge.

"Why are we here?" Louis asked, standing in front of Harry and taking his other hand into his.

"I really like this place. I come when I can, so I figured I'd just share it with you," Harry said, walking closer so Louis would be right by his chest; the height difference making it easy for Harry to engulf him in a tight hug.

Louis on his side, felt a rush of emotions making their way up in his body. It was the first time that they hugged as a couple and it felt excruciatingly meaningful, filled with a mixture of feeling safe, welcomed, and cherished by the green-eyed alpha. Which he was, of course. Another thing he noted, too, was how well Harry's scent and the scent of the place mingled together, creating a really nice aroma to breathe in. Harry laughed slightly and pulled Louis tighter to his chest.

"You know, I'm so used to the scent of this place, I really love it. Then I bring you here and smell yours and this place's together and it makes me love it even more," god, Harry could be such a sap sometimes.

"Quit being so sappy" Louis demanded playfully, snuggling deeper into the alpha's chest.

"Don't lie to me, I know you like it,"

"Yeah, I do," and Louis was honest in that one. "What do I smell like?" The omega asked eventually, wanting to know how Harry perceived him.

"Like heaven. Sweet, but not cloying, with hints of vanilla and almonds, and raspberries. A weird mixture, but you make it work," Louis smiled to himself.

"Who knew you were such a poet," he teased him, not wanting to leave the cocoon of his arms.

"You just happen to bring out the best in me, sweetie," Harry sniffles the omega's hair while he laughed. How could have they waited five years to experience this was beyond them.

"Harry, you're so sappy it's making me blush," the omega giggled, hiding his blush from the alpha.

"It's what I'm intending to do," Harry said simply, hugging Louis tightly before letting him go. He grabbed him by his hand and started pulling him towards the cliff. "Come on, I want to show you something,"

They walked the few steps that separated them from the claire; Harry tugging slightly at the omega but careful still. When they got there though, Louis was left speechless. The place was quite big but not that much, which made it perfect for them, and the moon was shining in all its glory, lighting the place up as if it wasn't getting closer to midnight. Harry pulled a blanket out of nowhere and extended it onto the floor, making a nice place for them to sit and talk, or do anything really.

The alpha sat down and patted the place beside him so Louis would follow, and slowly but surely, he did. Being careful enough of his still-healing wound, he crunched down and sat beside Harry, widely impressed at the sight before him.

On one side, the sky was what took his breath away. Being far from the city centre meant fewer lights, which meant the sky was fully dotted with stars of all sizes, glaring down at them. But then he looked at the horizon and was mesmerized by the way the reflection of the moon shined in the moving water. That place was truly idyllic.

"Haz, this place is beautiful, how'd you find it?" Louis asked, turning his attention to the wolf sitting beside him and liking very much how he looked under the moonlight. He looked at him and smiled widely, taking Louis' breath away.

"I was twenty-two and I had had my first presentation with the orchestra. I remember messing up a part of it and, although no one noticed, I felt like shit. I had fucked up at the LSO and in my mind, it had been so bad that no one would even talk to me about it. In reality, my fingers had slipped off just a little and the sound came off pitch, but it was barely noticeable. Blame anxiety, I guess," he explained, looking at his surroundings and breathing in the fresh air of his favourite place. "I drove off after it ended and I was so mad at myself that I zoned out while driving, taking a driveway that went to the outskirts instead of my house. I don't quite remember getting here, but when I did I dropped everything, sat down here and spent the night stargazing and blaming myself,"

"Why were you so harsh on yourself?" Louis asked, placing his delicate hand on Harry's thigh.

"Dunno. I guess because I studied cello on a full scholarship, and had been just put in the LSO out of all orchestras... I was afraid I would mess up. Ever since I started learning cello when I was ten I always had a huge fear of fucking up and losing it. It stuck with me, I guess," Harry explained, not looking at his boyfriend while doing so. He feared the omega was looking at him with pity in his eyes.

"I've never heard you play before," Louis commented, trying to drive away from the topic 'anxieties'.

"I'll have to play something for you," Harry chanted, putting his hands behind his back and resting his weight on his arms. "How come you've never heard me?"

"The only time I could was when I picked Eve up from that concert you had, but you weren't playing then," Louis explained, sitting in the same position as Harry and placing his rather small hand over his.

"Well, I'll play something for you before, but you reminded me of something. I have a trip planned for early September. Actually, it's a tour through France, a month and a half long. The LSO is playing shows in different locations and such. I'd love it if you came with us, Eve and I," Harry offered, hopeful that Louis would agree.

"Aw Haz, that's awesome!" Louis was genuinely happy. "I'll have to check some things at work but I can manage. I'd love to go with you," it wasn't as if he didn't know France already, but being there with Harry, in the country that held the city of love... That would just be wonderful.

Harry grinned at him and then they stayed silent, taking in their surroundings once again. It was a truly breathtaking place, no doubt of that, and Louis really wanted to know how it was during the day, too. He had grown fond of it already. The stars above them were shining as he had never seen them before... And there were so many. He was mesmerized by the beauty before him, both the place and the man sat beside him. He took a look at the profile of his boyfriend, who had his eyes closed and was enjoying the scent of the place. Harry under the moonlight looked ethereal, brought from another world, and Louis honestly didn't know what he had done to deserve him. He was beautiful inside and outside and it was so overwhelming to think he was his to have. To touch, if he wanted, to kiss, if he wanted.

Right at that moment, Harry felt the weight of Louis' stare, so he turned around and saw him, looking at him with his mouth slightly agape; thin lips shining with a thin coat of saliva. His eyes, normally blue, looked navy under the moonlight, his cheekbones looked extremely sharp like they could cut him if he wasn't careful. His hair, always feathery and soft, looked even better right then and there.

And he truly wasn't able to fight it, he was left hypnotized by the beauty of the omega before him. So he did what his heart was telling him to. Right at that moment he scooted closer, placed a hand on Louis's cheek and slowly brought their lips together for the first time.

Louis was at a loss of words, to say the least, feeling how Harry was the only thing grounding him, yet the very thing that was drifting him away from reality. His lips, soft and plump against his own were setting off fireworks inside his belly, making a shiver or electricity run over him. He couldn't believe this was him and Harry, kissing so softly for the first time.

And all of a sudden he felt weak, powerless. Harry had taken all the power he ever possessed over himself, he was defenceless. Harry could do whatever he wanted with him right then and there and Louis would just follow, feeling so content, so at peace that it was terrifying. Louis had never had that kind of trust in anyone.

Harry's lips never left him, and with the speed of a snail, Harry deepened it, bringing his free hand to the omega's waist and opening his mouth more, inviting Louis to do the same. It was a collision not only of lips but of emotions, a long-awaited encounter between two souls that have known since the beginning of time that they were bound to be together for eternity. It was an exchange of unsaid feelings, of unsaid things, even of yet to be acknowledged things. Everything was bare and vulnerable, and Louis could have never deemed it more perfect.

Eventually, they pulled apart, not because they wanted to, if not because they felt the need to look at each other's eyes, which were both shining in a darker shade than their original colour. And that stare was enough for Louis to know that he wanted everything with that alpha. Everything Harry would be willing to give him, he'd take and cherish for the rest of his life.

😏😏😏

Their lips collided again, in a much more hot and sloppy manner; the need to feel closer overpowering the fear of the unknown. Their hands wandered the other, finally discovering what had always been near but frustratingly out of reach. Louis placed both of his hands on Harry's neck, letting them wander around the area, moulding against the stiffness of Harry's upper back muscles. The alpha's hands though, went to Louis' waist, wandering upwards rather than downwards. It was amazing how in this state, where the only thing important was roaming the other's mouth, Harry was lucid enough not to go lower, as he hadn't discussed that with Louis yet. For now, this was a making out session, but both of them had a feeling that the tag wouldn't last.

Louis wants to convince himself he acted the way he acted because the position they were in before was fairly uncomfortable, but when he slides a leg over Harry's hips and straddles him, all without detaching their lips, he faces the reality that he really did it because he wanted to. And what was not to want there? His hands move up to Harry's cheeks and stay there, all while Harry is more tempted than ever to lower his touch south down the curves of Louis' body. Being like that, in the middle of nowhere, with Harry beside him —most likely underneath him— were everything he would ever need.

They keep on going like this for a while, discovering which places are more erogenous for the other, where to touch, how to kiss. They worked like that up until the moment that through Harry's head went the idea of kissing other sides of Louis, not only his mouth. So, with all the strength in the world, he pulled away, immediately latching his lips to the skin of Louis' jaw, and going lower. Louis arched his back, plastering his chest against Harry's in a mere attempt to manage the pleasure that it gave him being kissed on the neck.

Harry went all down the side of his neck, leaving a trail of kisses from his jaw, to his earlobe and behind it, down to his left collarbone and then left shoulder, pulling the fabric of his shirt away when needed. He got it right though when he was making his way towards the other side of Louis' neck, grazing his gland. He, playful as always and wanting to evict every reaction Louis had to offer, extended his canines and lightly brushed them against the bonding spot, where one day his mark would be held with pride. And he truly, really, honestly never expected the reaction he got from the omega. He arched his back a lot, throwing his head backwards and completely baring his neck to him, swinging his hips against Harry's to create any kind of friction.

"Harry..." Louis moaned, and it was then when Harry was hit with the best scent he had ever smelled in his twenty-eight years of life. Louis' slick was dripping from his hole, soaking his skinny jeans wet, making Harry go crazy. It was his scent, only multiplied by a thousand in intensity, and it was driving him insane with pure want.

"Lou..." The alpha corresponded. "Baby,"

After seeing such a reaction from the omega, he took the liberty to skip formalities and let his hands wander to the omega's ass, kneading it and spreading his cheeks apart over the clothing. Louis responded well again, pushing his bum against Harry's big hands.

"You want it?" Harry asked; eyes almost pitch black with desire. Louis nodded frantically, rutting against Harry's hips. "You want my cock? Want to ride me?" Louis nodded once again; Harry's words going straight to his hole, which was now gushing out the marvellous liquid.

"Alpha..." Louis moaned again, in need of Harry, in need of everything he could give him.

Harry then got a moment of clarity, where he could actually see that Louis may be clouded by the pleasure and not thinking clearly enough. Maybe rushing this would cause avoidable damage, so he had to ask him, he had to get him lucid. He wouldn't forgive himself if Louis ever did so much as a hint that he regretted their first time.

"Lou," he pulled one hand away from his ass and brought it to the omega's head, trying to make him look at him. Louis gladly complied, still rutting and searching for friction against Harry. "Baby, come to me," Harry said, and only then Louis opened his eyes.

"Haz..." He said, not quite moaning but not quite talking either.

"There you are," he praised him. "I need to be sure you really want this. Do you really want this?" The sweet alpha asked, being faced by a rather confused Louis now.

"' Course," he was breathing heavily, rocking his hips back and forth over Harry's erection, making it grow thicker. "Why wouldn't I?" The omega asked back, letting his hands travel down Harry's torso and pulling the blazer backwards so it'd slip off of his shoulders.

"Maybe... Maybe because it's too soon?" Harry suggested, highly affected by the fact that Louis' hands were going even lower, now at the height of his belly button.

"Haz..." Louis planted a kiss on his lips and lingered there before pulling back. "Be careful, I've never been knotted before," Louis was completely honest, letting his lips travel down Harry's neck as much as he pleased, getting drunk in the scent of his alpha. Harry was stoked that Louis would let him knot, but in all honesty, it had been so long since he last had sex that he wasn't sure he'd be able to hold it and pull back before popping it in. "But aside from that..." Louis left a lingering kiss on his Adam's apple. "Fuck me so I can still feel it tomorrow," the omega ordered and it was all Harry needed to start working.

Harry brought both of his hands back to their rightful place: Louis' bum, but eventually found out that the layers of clothing between them were bothering him more than he thought. So he lifted them up carefully, placing them in the hem of Louis' burgundy tee shirt and pulling upwards, revealing little by little the glory of Louis' tan skin. Louis gladly complied to the gesture, detaching momentarily from Harry so the alpha could pull the shirt away from him, leaving him shirtless and shy. He quickly went back to kissing Harry's neck, leaving wet patches and one or two love bites. He wanted to hide, he didn't want Harry to see him naked and lose the libido that had brought them there in the first place. It wasn't as if he were ashamed of his body, just that the scar was still pretty new and red, and he feared it would be a turn-off.

Harry didn't seem to notice Louis' behaviour and just kept going, placing his hands back on top of Louis' ass and enjoying how firm, round and big it felt against his palms. He didn't know how he had lived for five years -of knowing Louis- and he had never put a hand on the marvellous backside the omega carried with him. He went as far as wandering underneath the fabric of Louis' skinny jeans and underwear, needing to feel the warmth in his hands.

"Haz..." Louis moaned, liking the attention given to his butt but wanting it to go further down. The omega rolled his hips forward; his crotch meeting Harry's hard on.

"You smell so good," Harry mumbled, wanting to do so many things to the tiny omega rutting against him. He could smell his desperation, seeing as Louis just couldn't stop gushing out slick, which was the reason he decided it was time they actually started getting rid of their clothes. The alpha released Louis for just a fraction of a second to remove his tee-shirt, being desperate to get his hands back where they were. In that short time they pulled away, they shared the most intense look in their lives; glossy eyes and swollen lips on both sides making the picture more erotic as time went by. "You're gorgeous" Harry mumbled and caught his lips again, not before seeing how the omega blushed at the compliment. 

Harry wanted Louis to ride him so badly, to feel his thick thighs pressing on his hips as Louis went up and down in his shaft, searching for his own release. He looked forward to having his ass bouncing up and down on him; the only sound present in between their moans being the sound of skin slapping against skin, of his balls slapping Louis' ass every time they met in the middle. He wanted to have that more than anything, but it was in a brief moment of clarity that he remembered the surgery Louis had gone through not too long ago. He knew he had to be careful with the omega, now more than ever. They would have plenty of time for riding in the future, that was a sure thing.

So, with all the care in the world and without stopping the feverish kiss going on between them, Harry placed Louis on his back, on top of the blanket he had previously put underneath them so he could properly undress him and take care of him. Louis instinctively parted his legs, making room for Harry to rest between them and keep the kiss going; alpha hovering over the omega with one hand and letting the other one wander down Louis' side. 

"So beautiful..." Harry mumbled, putting his weight on his knees and going lower every time, trailing down a path of kisses on Louis' neck, collarbones, and eventually reaching his pecs. He settled on suckling on Louis' left nipple while twirling the other one around, watching as Louis became more and more of a mess. He was moaning loudly, biting on his knuckles to avoid it but being unable, and each and every sound that escaped his mouth made its way to Harry's cock.

"Alpha..." he moaned out loud, praising the work Harry was doing with his tongue, swirling it around the nub of his nipple and getting it erected. His delicate hand went up to touch Harry's side, sliding lower until it reached the hem of the alpha's jeans. He tugged at it, clearly indicating that he wanted them off. Harry reacted to it, pulling away just the smallest bit and grinning smugly, happy that the omega was enjoying his touch so much. He drew a path of kisses down to Louis' navel and further, stopping at the feeling of fabric on his lips before undoing the button and fly, but not taking them off just yet. He was teasing the omega, kissing him on top of his pants and playing with his hips, to which Louis was clearly responding. It had been so long since either of them had been touched like that, not that they hadn't been with other people before but it had been so long ago... and it also felt meaningful, really meaningful.

Louis was a wet mess, so much that he was wetting the blanket underneath them through his trousers. He wanted to be touched, to be fucked, to be knotted, he wanted everything Harry would offer him. So he started fidgeting his hips, letting Harry know he was close to desperate, if not there already. Looking up and smiling playfully, the alpha tugged at Louis' jeans, pulling them off with some help from the omega and setting Louis' cock free, slightly smaller than the average for an omega but pink and hard, really hard. 

And Harry was left speechless at the sight of Louis like that, naked, ready to take whatever Harry would give him, completely under his spell, at his mercy. He didn't know his dick could get even harder, but it did. 

Still too overwhelmed by the fact that Louis was almost completely naked before him, he undid his own fly to release a bit of the pressure and started leaving kisses down Louis' right thigh, going down as he finished pulling the tight skinny jeans from him. And right then it hit him all over again, how strong his scent was now that he was naked, how the trailing of his hands underneath his thighs had dragged with them the wetness of the omega's hole, which was now staining his fingers. He pulled away, leaving the pants aside and immediately took his fingers to his mouth, tasting the sweetness of the omega who was now, officially, driving him crazy.

"You don't know what you do to me," Harry managed to say, getting at eye level to Louis' crotch and ready for what was to come. Or who, rather. 

Harry took hold of the omega's legs and pulled them apart, bending the knees and steading the small feet on the ground. And from there he went, kissing a trail from Louis' left knee down to his crotch, avoiding at all costs the cock that was pleading for attention. He kissed around it, wanting to memorize every part of Louis' body with his lips only, wanting to leave no patch of skin behind.

"Lou... gorgeous," the alpha mumbled before getting one of Louis' balls inside his mouth, playing with the sac of the other while at it. Louis gave an actual scream at that, arching his back and going as far as touching his own nipples, also missing the feeling of Harry's mouth, too overwhelmed by the pleasure of it all. And then Harry went even lower and that was when Louis was officially past the no turning back point. Harry lost it too, finally taking the delicacy of Louis' slick right from its source and not being able to pull back.

He started with his mouth, leaving wet kisses all around the pink and flustered entrance which was leaking out with so much of the whiteish slimy liquid. Louis opened up his mouth in an 'O' of pure pleasure, but not even near as much as he needed to feel. And then Harry pulled his tongue out, licking a thick stripe from Louis' balls down to his hole, picking up all the slick that had escaped. 

"Oh god," the omega moaned, panting heavily out of anticipation.

"You taste so good. You've no idea," Harry mumbled without pulling his face away from Louis' ass, letting the vibrations of his voice get to him. He licked at his hole once before deciding it was time he did something about the moaning mess he had underneath him, so he stiffed up his tongue and slowly pushed it inside Louis' hot and pink hole, making the omega see stars all around his head. It was maddening and extremely pleasurable for both of them, getting to know and feel each other in such depths.

Harry was thrusting his tongue in and out of Louis hole, preparing him for what was to come, which evidently was way wider than the tongue inside him right then. Harry licked at his insides, drowning himself in the sweetness of Louis' slick, falling even deeper into that sex haze that made alphas act instinctively. He needed to fuck him, he needed to bury his cock inside that beautiful and tight heat of his and never let go, he needed to breed him full of his pups, to knot him over and over again. So he brought his fingers into action, circling the entrance with his middle finger but without pushing past the rim, catching all the slick that made it past his mouth. He brought said fingers up to Louis' mouth, detaching himself from the heat of his hole.

"Want you to know how you taste," Harry said with authority, making the omega inside of Louis instantly open his mouth, letting Harry's fingers in without questioning. He suckled on them, getting to know the taste of his own slick, which seemed to drive Harry crazy. It wasn't something too out of this world for him, but it still turned him on nonetheless.

"Mhmm" he mumbled around Harry's fingers, under the intense stare of Harry's almost pitch-black eyes. 

"Suck" the alpha ordered, and so the omega complied, sucking his middle and pointer finger like they were a popsicle in the middle of a heatwave, as if his life depended on it. 

Rather sooner than later Harry got bored of the sucking, so he pulled his fingers out of Louis' mouth and directed them to his hole, which was once again all wet with slick. Without warning, he slipped his middle finger inside of Louis, to which the omega left a pretty high pitched moan escape his lips. It slid in so easily, completely effortlessly, no resistance whatsoever, which made Harry immediately start thrusting his finger in and out, making Louis moan louder each and every time. He was so overwhelmed both physically and emotionally, feeling this rush of pleasure spreading through his body like a wildfire, burning everything in its path down to ashes. His pleasure was exponential, increasing greatly with every short interval of time, particularly once Harry added a second finger in and started scissoring him open. His cock was leaking pre-come already, looking hard and red against his stomach like it was about to burst. Which it was, by the way. 

"Haz... Haz..." Louis panted, trying to warn the alpha. "I'm gonna come" he managed to say those three words just before it all exploded. It was when the alpha added his third finger to the equation that Louis couldn't hold it in any longer, coming violently and untouched on his own stomach; Harry walking him through his orgasm with his three fingers rocking in and out of him consistently. And even after he came and was left over sensitive Harry didn't stop. He kept moving his fingers, flexing them and curling them in the tight heat of Louis' hole, avoiding his prostate with expertise. That little bundle of nerves would be played with the alpha's cock, rather than his fingers. 

Harry fingered him some more, just enough that he wouldn't be too sensitive but rather hard again, even going as far as slipping his pinky inside, making them four fingers inside the omega instead of three. Louis was so gone, he had fully surrendered to the pleasure, so much that he didn't even notice the fourth finger sliding in his hole against the other three. All he knew was that he was ready, that he wanted Harry to fill him up instead of his fingers. He needed to come again, to release. 

"I want you," the omega panted.

"You have me," Harry answered smugly, pushing his fingers deep enough to draw a choked breath out of the omega.

"I'm ready," he insisted again, once he was able to catch his breath.

"Say it," Harry commanded, pulling down his own pants and underwear enough that his massive cock sprung free, looking red, flustered and neglected. "Tell me what you want me to do,"

"Fuck," Louis exclaimed at the sight of Harry's shaft, suddenly afraid it wouldn't fit of how big it was. It was long and thick, with veins decorating the sides of it and the tip furiously red, given how neglected it had been. "Fuck me," Louis inquired and watched how the alpha slowly removed his four fingers from his hole, lining his cock with the entrance instead, teasing him with the tip.

No one prepared them though. No one told them how great it would feel to be buried in or to be filled by the other; the feeling so overwhelming that neither of them could understand it. It was hot, and wet, and tight, but so pleasant, so fulfilling. Harry started pushing his cock in, going slowly as it was wider than his four fingers together. He grabbed the omega by the waist, watching how he couldn't handle it, how he was so drunk in the pleasure that he couldn't stop whimpering and moaning; mouth wide open and back arched in want, not knowing what to do with his hands. 

"Don't stop," it came as a low whisper out of the throat of the omega, but it was as much as he could do.

Harry kept sliding in, getting more and more overwhelmed with each centimetre that made its way into Louis' tightness, who was panting and out of breath already, only thanks to the weight of Harry's cock inside of him. The alpha bottomed out eventually, placing his hands in both sides of Louis' head and leaning in for a kiss, the sloppiest one so far. Their lips collided, their teeth chattered against the other's, their tongues immediately invaded the other's mouth in an unstoppable frenzy of passion and trust. That until Harry broke it off, pulling out slightly from Louis' hole only to slam back down again. Hard. Louis hands went up to Harry's side and rested on his back, tempted of digging his fingernails and giving him the marks that he deserved. 

Harry pulled out again up until the only thing inside of the omega was the tip of his cock, and then slammed back in again, picking up a pace and fucking Louis' with expertise, a Louis that had been turned into a mess; ankles locked at Harrys lower back and fingernails digging in the flesh of his upper back. His moans were obscene and lustful, encouraging the alpha to keep going like he was, fucking him into oblivion. 

"Harder," the omega pleaded, and of course Harry obeyed, slamming back down with more intensity. "Oh god yes, so perfect" Louis blurted out, clinging to Harry for dear life while he thrust into him nonstop. 

"Feels so tight around my cock," Harry mumbled, lowering his head enough so it would rest in the crook of the omega's neck, breathing in his sweet scent. "So good for me,"

Honestly, who were they kidding, that would be the shortest fuck of their lives. They were both so close to coming undone, Louis having already done so. Harry was pounding into him faster and rougher every second, hitting Louis' prostate without any mercy and making the omega scream out of pleasure, drawing tears out of his eyes.

"Oh god," Louis choked on a moan, baring his neck in a sign of complete submission. "I'm coming," he was able to give Harry a head's up, feeling his lower abdomen get tighter; the fluttering getting more and more intense as he approached his release. "Oh yes, right there!" he screamed when Harry hit his prostate with a pretty hard thrust.

"Gorgeous," Harry mumbled; his grip on Louis' waist getting harder and the base of his cock getting thicker. "I'm gonna knot you, I'll breed you full with my pups,"

"Yes, please! I want them all!"

And yes, they did know that if they ever wanted to expand their family one, it'd have to be during one of Louis' heats and two, it'd take them quite a while. That's if they ever managed to get the omega pregnant. The chances of them ever having puppies were so slim they were close to non-existent. But in their defence, every wolf would get turned on by the idea of breeding, it was nature doing her job.

"I... I... Haz!" Louis screamed right before he came; the breeding talk was enough to throw him over the edge.

"That's it, baby, come for me," the alpha praised the omega, watching as the thin and white strands made abstract art on Louis' soft stomach, thrusting away while he came undone underneath him. "So perfect,"

The alpha started pounding harder and harder into the omega, searching for his own release. Louis' orgasm had left him exhausted and oversensitive, but it also had caused the walls of his hole to contract, which made Harry go even more crazy, slamming his pelvis against Louis ass at a faster pace every second.

"Knot me," Louis ordered, losing himself into the post-orgasm haze but still enjoying the deep thrusts.

And Harry obeyed, letting his knot catch on Louis' rim a couple of times before popping it in, coming undone inside the omega and biting him hard on the left side of his neck. That was the only thing Louis needed to stain his stomach again with his own come, feeling the intensity of Harry's orgasm rush through his body, thanks to the momentary bond.

"Oh god," and Louis never thought that such pain could ever feel so good at the same time. On one side he wanted to pull away but in the other, he wanted that knot to go even deeper. On one side he wanted Harry to remove his teeth from his neck and in the other, he wanted the alpha to sink them in even deeper, even wishing he had bit just a couple of centimetres more towards the centre. "It's big," he moaned; pleasure slowly overcoming pain. Harry was panting above him; teeth still buried in the omega's neck, trying to come back from the intensity of his orgasm and coming to terms with the fact that he had knotted an omega for the first time in his life.

Finally, the alpha pulled his canines back, detaching his mouth from Louis' neck and licking the wound clean so it would heal properly. Neither of them was able to speak; the high of their orgasms still overpowering them to such an extent that they could barely breathe. Harry though, was sensible enough to accommodate the omega in a comfortable manner, placing both of his legs on one side of his hips and flipping over so they'd be on their sides; knot still buried deep into the warmth of Louis' heat.

"That was..." Louis said out of breath, cuddling closer to the warm body of the alpha spooning him, feeling how his knot was pumping his seed into his womb.

"Amazing," Harry completed, letting his left hand travel down Louis' left side and on top of his stomach, where the omega intertwined their fingers.

"I can't thread a single idea," Louis mumbled hazily, enjoying the feeling of the post-orgasm haze.

They fell into a deep silence; both remaining completely still so Harry's knot wouldn't pull on Louis' rim and cause him any pain. Given the fact that it was Harry's first knot in over five years well... It was an understatement that it would be a while before it went down, which could be something good or bad depending on the situation. Luckily, the omega was enjoying himself with a knot inside his hole, so it wouldn't be an issue if it took up to an hour to deflate.

😏😏😏

"What are you thinking?" The omega asked right when Harry thought he would fall asleep.

"That... I'm really liking the idea of us doing this more often," Louis chuckled; knot pulling on his rim which made him choke on his breath.

"Yeah, me too," Louis confessed, drawing imaginary and mindless doodles on Harry's hand. "How come we never fucked before?" Louis asked.

"Well, we were too politically correct to even think about it," Harry mumbled, stroking Louis stomach absently.

"Talk for yourself, I've thought about this before," Louis said with all honesty, enjoying the warmth that Harry's body gave off.

"How come?"

"How did you think I'd get through my heats?" Louis said playfully, wishing he could see Harry's face as they spoke. "I had to chain myself to the bed," Harry's knot pumped a decently sized load of his seed into Louis womb at the mention of the omega chained to his bed, whining for the alpha to come to help him but being lonely.

"Luckily, you won't have to go through that anymore," Harry said in a low volume, breathing in the scent of Louis' shampoo; something fruity and fresh contrasting with the sweetness of his own scent.

"Aye, I was looking forward to chaining myself to the headboard again,"

"Well, we can try if you're into that," Harry trailed off, turned on by the idea of the omega writhing in pleasure but unable to touch himself or Harry for that matter, coming completely untouched.

Louis chuckled again before they fell into a comfortable silence; each drifting off to their own thoughts and matters. Suddenly the atmosphere got slightly more serious; Louis thoughts projecting into his own body and making him slightly tense. Harry noticed, and it didn't take long for him to ask.

"Honey, is everything okay?" The alpha mumbled, licking sweetly at the omega's nape, tickling him slightly.

"Yeah just... Some things going through my mind, that's all," Louis wasn't sure if it was prudent to tell Harry about his concerns or not. However, the sooner he did it the better, as it'd give Harry time to assimilate and make a decision about it.

"Wanna talk about it?" The alpha said as he caressed the omega's abdomen, which was still being filled up with his seed.

"Actually... Yes, I do," he took a deep breath in and continued. "I... I've always told you how I most likely can't get pregnant but I've never told you why," he trailed off, wanting to give Harry the opportunity to make a proper decision about them. Not all alphas are fine with an omega that isn't fertile. "When I gave birth I... I had a condition that's called placenta accreta. It's when the placenta attaches too deeply into the tissues of the uterus... I actually didn't know of it up until two days after delivery which was when I woke up. I had a massive haemorrhage and lost a lot of blood because of it, and it almost cost me my womb. Luckily they were able to retrieve it without taking my womb away, so that's that, but it still meant that it had a lot of scarring; still has. This scarring takes up a lot of space, which makes implantation extremely difficult-"

"Why are you telling me this?" Harry interrupted him, pulling him closer to his chest as he felt how he kept tensing up.

"Because you have a right to decide if you still want me after you know I'm practically sterile," Louis said, letting a tear roll down his cheek, thanking that Harry was spooning him so he wouldn't see. He had promised himself he wouldn't shed another tear for that subject, but talking about it was extremely painful and difficult.

"Lou, look, I won't lie, there's nothing I'd like more than to have puppies with you. But if we can't... that's fine by me. I'm pretty damn happy just with having you as my mate," and Harry was so sweet and honest that it made Louis shed another tear.

"Really?" He tried to look up, finding the alpha resting on his forearm and looking at him with nothing but love in his eyes.

"Really," he confirmed. "Besides, there are tons of other ways to have pups. There's surrogacy, adoption, we can do that, Lou... That is if you ever want to,"

"I'd love to," Louis confessed, cracking a laugh right after he finished.

"What's so funny?" Harry asked the omega, stroking the skin of his abdomen.

"That we kissed, fucked and are having the pup talk all on our first date,"

"Does it bother you?" Harry asked, concerned that he might have taken things way to fast.

"Not at all. It's just funny that it took us five years to realise we liked each other, yet we kissed and fucked on our first date. That's all," Louis smiled, wiling the trace of the previously shed tears.

"Well, let's say we're compensating for the delay,"

"Yeah, right," Louis chuckled and rested his head right against Harry's chest, letting the tiredness of the day and the previous activities hit him.

"Tired?" Louis just nodded. "Well, let's catch some sleep, shall we?" Louis nodded again, getting more comfortable in Harry's embrace.

And they fell asleep on the grass, right in the middle of nowhere, completely naked until Harry covered himself and the omega with another blanket he'd brought. That was by far the best date both of them had ever had. 


	23. Chapter XXI

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry for the delay, my life's been kind of a mess. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and that you have an even more wonderful new year. 
> 
> All the love, M.

Louis had awoken early. Blame the fact that he had slept on the outside or that he was a doctor and therefore he was accustomed to getting little to no sleep, but he got out of his slumber at the crack of dawn, feeling heavy limbs engulfing him in a tight hug. He took a deep breath in, enjoying the weight on his body and the nice mixture of scents surrounding him. Harry smelled of Harry; pine mixed in with the smell of the rain and a musky undertone, while the place smelled of nature, of recently cut grass and sea. He could confidently say it was one of the best combinations he had ever smelled in his twenty-nine years of life. He finally opened his blue eyes, and after looking to his right side he was met with the sight of a sleeping Harry, whose curls weren't all over the place like expected and was lightly snoring against Louis' neck. And he smiled; all the events from the previous night coming back to his mind and making him giggle. God, was he smitten. 

He pulled away just a small bit so he'd see Harry's face, wanting to catch sight of how Harry looked when he slept. So, after turning to lay on his right side and putting his weight on his right forearm, he was met with Harry's even softer features, and ones he had never paid attention to before. For example, that tiny mole on the left side of his chin, or the small freckles that made their way up to his nose and cheeks, practically invisible but still there. Overall he looked unbearably soft as if sleep took ten years off him. And then Louis saw him frown in his sleep and his grin grew even wider, endeared by the alpha. It was as if Harry were frustrated by the slight space Louis put between them to be able to look at him.

"Such a grumpy alpha," he said in a low volume, erasing the frown on Harry's face with his thumb.

Harry rustled a bit in his sleep and opened one green eye right after pulling Louis by the waist, wanting the omega to be closer to him. The smile he gave Louis was one he would remember for the rest of their lives; dimples on display and tired eyes looking at him as if he were the eighth wonder of the world.

"Hi," the alpha mumbled, greeting the omega and holding his smile. "Morning, beautiful," Harry's voice was particularly deep, sending shivers down Louis' spine like it always did but far more efficiently.

"You know... I could get used to waking up like this," Louis said quietly, bringing his head down lower to leave a peck on Harry's lips, which Harry wanted to deepen but the omega didn't allow. Louis was particularly self-conscious about how he looked right then, but what worried him the most was his morning breath. He hoped Harry wouldn't care.

"How come?" the alpha asked teasingly, stretching out as much as he could and sounding sleepy still.

"I happen to love how deep your voice gets when you just wake up," Louis pecked his lips again and sat up, not giving Harry enough time to react and try to deepen the kiss once again. He put a hand atop his stomach, breathing in deep when he felt a sharp pain deep within his tissues. Although he was healing nicely he couldn't move too quickly or use his abs because it'd hurt just on the verge of too much. Maybe sleeping on the floor hadn't been that great of an idea.

"I'm flattered," Harry mumbled with a cheeky smile but erased it immediately once he realised Louis was in pain. "You okay, hun?" He asked him, sitting up behind him and letting his hands go to where Louis' were, trying to find what was wrong.

"Yeah just... I'm not supposed to use my abs just yet, and I did so now it hurts," Louis closed his eyes tightly, holding onto his upper stomach. "Like a bitch,"

"It hasn't been long since the surgery, Lou. You're still recovering," Harry reassured him, stroking his back up and down.

"Yeah but it's almost been three weeks, I should be able to move faster now,"

"Babe, you're the doctor here but even I know that things don't work that way," Louis actually pouted at that, crossing his arms over his chest in defeat to mother nature. He hated that it would take him so long to feel one hundred per cent himself again.

"I can only imagine how Eve must feel," Louis murmured and was met by a sympathetic smile on Harry's side. That was enough for them.

"What time s'it?" Harry asked, choosing to leave aside the topic of Louis and Eve's recovery.

"Dunno," Louis said, wanting to get up from their improvised nest but feeling an urge to just lay down again and cuddle the alpha. Sadly, life was waiting for them outside their bubble, so they'd have to get going. Eventually. Either way, he was going to be more careful so he wouldn't end up hurting.

Louis stood up slowly and pretty ungracefully, giving the alpha a pretty view of his naked bum. As they fell asleep naked, it was only logical they'd wake up naked, and Louis had expected it to be far more awkward than it actually was. So much that when Harry whistled at him he only laughed and stood straight, letting the alpha look at his backside in all its glory. Truth to be told, Louis was pretty proud of his bum, and Harry seemed to be rather fond of it too, so why not walk around naked, right?

"Like what you see?" he teased, walking away to gather all their clothing. 

"I do, actually," the alpha answered playfully.

He picked up his black skinny jeans and almost threw them away at how disgusting they were. All the crotch and bum area was soaked in his slick and in all honesty, he wasn't sure if throwing them in the wash would save them. But he had to try, so after grabbing his phone which was in one of its back pockets he put them over his forearm and kept gathering all of their things. 

"It's ten past five," he announced, grabbing his burgundy long sleeve tee-shirt and throwing it on, hoping it would cover his private area but scowling when he saw it didn't. "My pants are a mess, I don't think I can actually put them on,"

Harry got up from the comfortableness of the grass and the blankets and, confidence blooming in his naked skin, approached the omega to hug him from behind, leaving a trail of dry kisses from his neck down to his right shoulder.

"Then we stop by at yours before going to the hospital so you can change," he suggested, kissing the omega's shoulder one last time and lingering on it, before pulling away to get his own clothes. 

"I'm not gonna go naked in the car, that's just nasty," Louis commented, finding his vans and throwing them on as well. 

"I wouldn't complain," Harry mentioned suggestively. "But I guess you can cover up with the blanket until we get there,"

"That's smart. Thanks, hun," Louis pecked his lips once again, standing on his tiptoes to reach the alpha's mouth and then picked the blanket up, wrapping it around his waist as if it were a towel. "Not gonna get dressed?" 

"I'd rather just be naked but I guess it isn't possible," he grinned widely, showing Louis his dimples and picking up his own stuff; putting on his jeans without underwear on. Louis thought to himself that one had to be brave to do that and not fear for the integrity of their privates. 

"Why doesn't it surprise me?" Louis asked no one in particular but smiled nonetheless, enjoying the idea of having the alpha running around naked whenever they got together. "Hey, Niall said he would stay until morning right?"

"Yeah, I texted him last night," Harry answered as he threw on his black tee-shirt. He handed his blazer to Louis so he could put it on if he felt cold. " To which I was answered with a long string of eggplant, water droplets and peach emojis and rudely asking for explanations," Louis choked out a laugh, putting on Harry's blazer and enjoying how big, warm and nice it felt against his body.

"Of course he would," he commented picking up the other blanket from the ground and folding it neatly., not being able to stop smiling. That reaction was so Niall.

"Hey..." Harry approached him. 'Warning, he'll have no shame in asking you anything, even if you two barely know each other," Harry faced the omega, taking his slim hands into his.

"I don't know why but I know," Louis answered honestly, stroking Harry's knuckles with his thumbs. 

"Don't let him get inside your head. If you don't want to tell him anything then don't, I'll deal with him later," Harry said it seriously but to Louis, it sounded kind of funny given the fact that how dangerous could a pregnant omega be? Well, regarding questioning, very. 

"I won't... I mean, it's Niall, I'm sure he'll get all the information he wants but not from me,"

"No, not if you don't want to," Harry said, this time fully serious and pulling the omega into a hug. "I want you to tell me what you're comfortable with, alright? I want us to talk things through," he said vulnerably, to which Louis picked up.

"Hey Haz, what's wrong?" the omega asked, stroking Harry's back up and down. The conversation had quickly taken a turn; Harry was showing himself vulnerable.

"I just... I don't want us to fail at this," he said in a low volume, pulling the omega even closer.

"Hey, it's okay. We will talk about everything like we've always done," Louis reassured him, hearing his steady heartbeat from underneath the fabric of his tee-shirt. Truth to be told, the only thing they hadn't thoroughly talked about until now was how they felt about each other, and after they did everything turned out just fine. They wouldn't have communication issues, hopefully.

"Thank you," Harry mumbled, taking in the scent of Loui's hair, which was fresher in comparison with his natural omega scent, which was sometimes overwhelmingly sweet. To Harry, he was overwhelmingly sweet.

"Let's go, shall we?" Harry nodded and they pulled apart from the hug, going each to pick up their things.

They had quite a long road ahead, plus the fact that they had to stop at Louis' so the omega could change and maybe pick up some breakfast afterwards. If they wanted to get to the hospital on time they'd better hurry. 

-

And indeed, it had taken them more than an hour and a half to get to the hospital. For starters, that beautiful place they had slept in was pretty far away from Louis' place, and once they finally got there they decided to take a shower instead of just changing, which made them waste even more time. That and the fact that they got pretty playful during shower time and ended up having sex again -without the knotting luckily-. But being on their side, they reeked of sex when they got to Louis' penthouse, taking a shower was a must. They didn't have it in them to complain though, and luckily it was barely six o'clock when they came out of the shower, leaving the ensuite bathroom filled from the floor to the ceiling with water vapour.

Harry had to put on the same clothes he had gone to their date with given the fact that Louis was easily three sizes smaller than him and nothing of his would fit him. Louis offered, though. Luckily, if there were any grass stains no one would know because he had dressed in all black. Louis, on his side, had dressed in a comfortable tracksuit and trainers, fed up with skinny jeans and their tightness. So, after brushing their teeth and getting presentable they left to the hospital at quarter past six, stopping by at a Starbucks to get something to have breakfast on the way. Of course, they even lost more time arguing for who would pay for the food and the coffee. Funnily enough, when Louis gave Harry his debit card and insisted he paid with it, they found out they had the same card pin: 2804. After laughing lightly about it, Harry went to buy them breakfast, telling Louis he'd pay with his card but paying with his own, of course. So, when Harry came back to the car with two mocha lattes and a couple of pastries in a paper bag and handed Louis his card but without the ticket... that's where their second argument took place, again, over who paid for their consumption. Louis was mad because Harry had paid for dinner the night before, so logically he had to be the one paying for breakfast the next day, and Harry was telling him that it was okay, that it was no trouble, and that there'd be hundreds of instances where he could pay. However, after they agreed that the next couple of times they went out Louis would pay, the omega remained in silence, giving Harry the silent treatment.

"C'mon babe, don't be childish," Harry had said, looking at how the omega was pouting slightly; arms crossed over his chest. "What happened to us talking things through, eh?" Louis took a deep breath in, and after giving Harry the silent treatment for a mere five minutes he spoke.

"I don't like being paid for," Louis had murmured, looking out of the window.

"Why's that?"

"Because it makes me feel like I can't fend for myself," Louis had explained, this time taking a look at the alpha driving the car. "Like I'm this defenceless thing that has to be taken care of,"

"Baby, sometimes it's nice to be taken care of, you can't be this mad because I paid for dinner and breakfast," Harry had reasoned, putting his rather large hand on Louis' thigh and giving it a squeeze. 

"I know but I just..." Louis had not been able to find the correct words to address his feelings. "I guess I've always liked my independence, that's all," he had settled for that, taking the importance off the subject. The real issue was that Louis, as an omega that didn't actually like being one, had always liked to prove to himself and others that he could be a hundred per cent independent. Maybe that was rubbing off in his and Harry's relationship, and although he still had that mentality, he will eventually come to terms with the fact that he likes being pampered, it's part of his instincts. Eventually.

"And I'm not asking you to not be independent, actually, that's one of the things I like the most about you," Harry had reassured him.

"Really?" And of course, Louis had felt insecure.

"Of course! I've always liked it," Harry had squeezed Louis' thigh once again. "That and how you always say the first thing that comes to your mind without thinking twice,"

"Hey! I don't always do that," Louis had protested funnily, slowly feeling less mad. Harry had given him a 'seriously?' look. "Believe me, if I did that, we would have been together for longer than a day," Harry actually laughed at that, being fond of the idea that Louis had a thing for him since way before he said it.

"So, now that you say it, for how long have you had a thing for me?" the alpha had asked cheekily, and the conversation had gone on, leaving completely aside Louis' complaining about him not paying for breakfast.

So on and so forth, they made it to the hospital at six thirty-five in the morning, and after parking the car and all, they walked a beeline to Eve's room, finding everybody asleep. It was actually a rather cute image, Niall and Shawn cuddling on the recliner -which thankfully was a pretty large one-, covered by a thin blanket, and Eve all curled up in the middle of her bed. She had got used to sleeping with either Harry or Louis on her bed, so was probably sleeping like that because of the lack of them.

"Niall," Harry mumbled, approaching Niall touching his shoulder lightly, which of course did nothing to wake the pregnant omega up. That was why he decided to employ the tactic he used back when they were both in the orphanage: pinching his nose shut. And so he did, which lead to Niall waking up rather abruptly mere seconds after, which also woke Shawn up.

"Harry what the fuck?!" Shawn said, which woke Eve up as well. 

"You ass, had been years since ya last did that," Niall addressed him, sitting up and making the recliner close abruptly. Yeah, waking them up had been kind of a hassle.

"That wasn't nice," Eve said, rubbing her right eye with her tiny fist and sitting up in bed.

"Good morning guys," Louis greeted them, standing right beside Harry, so close their sides were touching. They had been holding hands until then but thought it appropriate not to do so in front of Eve.

"Harry, why did you do that?" Shawn asked, making sure Niall was alright and completely ignoring Louis' greeting.

"Calm down honey, it's just old banter from the orphanage. He used to wake me up like that since we were like seven," Niall explained, calming down his alpha who was still trying to see if Niall was okay.

"Sorry, Shawn, forgot he was pregnant," Harry apologized, having not thought that it would startle him so much. It made sense though since Niall was five months pregnant and like every alpha, he was even more protective of him and the baby.

"Hi sweetie," Louis approached Eve's bed and the little girl immediately hugged him, burying her face on the crook of his neck and sniffling at the familiar scent. Even though she had enjoyed spending the night with Niall and Shawn, she had really missed Harry and Louis. 

"Hi Lou," she said as she hugged him. "You smell funny," she added, not breaking the hug up just yet. 

"Thank you guys for staying with her," Harry thanked them as Niall and Shawn stood up, walking slightly over to the exit. "Anything out of the ordinary?" Harry asked, wanting to know how his daughter did when they weren't there.

"Nope. She only complained of her tummy hurting and a nurse came in. She asked her if it was her tummy or the surgery and she said the surgery, so they increased the dose of the painkiller just a bit. They brought it back to normal at like three am." Shawn explained, grabbing Niall by the waist.

"Thank you. I'll talk to the nurse if she's still here. You bot are amazing, thank you so much," Harry thanked them again, looking grateful. He wouldn't have had the amazing time he had the night before if it wasn't for them.

"You're welcome Haz," Niall hugged him and, after smelling him he giggled. He smelled so much like Loui and sex, even if they had showered. "Hey mate, you got some," at least the pregnant omega had the finesse of saying such thing for Harry's ears only. "You have to tell me everything,"

"No I don't," Harry answered to that, still hugging his best friend. 

"Ugh please," Niall broke the hug off, giving Harry his best puppy eyes. If he could change into his wolf it'd be even more effective.

"I will tell you, just not everything, and not now," Harry stated, feeling protective of his memories with Louis.

"'Kay," Niall agreed, grabbing onto Shawn's hand. "Guess that's it mate, had a killer time with your child"

"Now did ya?" Harry asked sceptically, smiling at his friend of a lifetime. They had known each other since they could remember and had been attached to the hip ever since. They loved each other to death.

"I actually did. We got a close up to what life with ur pup will be five or six years from now," Niall said simply.

"I hope it's not with him admitted to the hospital, mate," Harry said with a small sad smile. He hoped more than anyone that Eve could be out of there.

"Please, no, 's horrible just to think about it and he isn't even born,"

"I know," Harry hugged him again, this time tighter. He really hoped that Niall wouldn't have to live what he was living with his future pup.

"By mate, see ya when you're outta here?" Niall asked as he pulled away.

"Sure, I'll call you,"

"Bye muppet, had a great time with you last night," Niall said to Eve, who pulled away from Louis' embrace to say goodbye.

"Bye uncle Ni, bye Shawn, bye baby," she said sweetly, waving her little hand specifically at Niall's bump. Everyone in the room suppressed a coo at the gesture.

"Bye-bye nugget," Shawn waved back and then the pair left the room, holding hands and walking away to the exit of the hospital.

"Hi sweetie," Harry greeted his daughter as he came back into the room, going straight towards her and giving her a tight hug.

"Hi, daddy," the little girl said back, clinging tightly to the alpha and wrapping her little arms around his neck. "Missed you,"

"Aw honey, I missed you too," Harry smelled her and immediately started scenting her when he picked up Niall and Shawn's scents. No parent liked to have the scent of other wolves on their children, they had to smell like their parents while they were children. The small omega cuddled deeper into her father's wide chest, and without saying a word they laid down, tightly wrapped around each other. Louis walked around to the other side and laid on the bed as well, getting himself into the hug and scenting the little girl as well. It was like taking a claim over Eve, and he really hoped Harry was alright with him doing so. The alpha didn't say a word, so he continued. 

"You two smell funny," Eve said, laying half sat on her bed and looking at the pair suspiciously. "You smell like daddy," she said to Louis, taking a sniff at him. "And you smell like Lou," she said to Harry, sniffling him as well. Luckily she had no record of what sex was or smelled like because they'd be in a great deal of trouble.

"Do you mind?" Louis asked her, stroking the hair he had inherited her; long and straight locks of brunette hair soft beneath his fingers. 

"No, it smells nice," she said, putting her face once again in the crook of Louis' neck, taking in his scent as if she knew he was her mother. Louis had to hold back a couple of tears at that; memories of all the times he could have guessed she was his daughter but he didn't, they were flooding his mind. He wanted to share them with Harry so badly, all the things he did when he was pregnant with her. "Can I go back to sleep?" she asked; face still buried in the crook of Louis' neck.

"'Course you can, sweetheart," Harry said to her, hugging her from behind and taking part of Louis into his arms as well.

Eve was curled up into Louis' chest, hugging him tightly, and Harry was cuddling them both, leaving little Eve in the middle. They stayed like that for like an hour, in complete silence, thinking stuff over and enjoying the warmth they were sharing. Eve had fallen asleep almost immediately, Harry had started stroking Louis' arm up and down, from shoulder to elbow. They were so comfortable that Harry was about to fall asleep again. That was until he heard the omega speak.

"Hey Haz, you awake?" Louis asked the alpha in a really low volume since he didn't want to bother the little omega sleeping between them. He knew Harry was awake since he kept stroking his arm, but he had to ask either way.

"Yes babe, what's wrong?" and just like that, Harry had been able to tell that something was wrong from the sound of Louis' voice only.

"I... I just remembered some things from my pregnancy and just stuff... and I thought I'd share them with you. If that's okay," the omega said in that same low volume, keeping that quiet atmosphere.

"Sure, you can tell me anything, love," Harry kept stroking up and down his arm, hoping it would comfort him.

"I... you know that thing they say that babies always remember the sound of their mother's heartbeat from when they were inside the womb, right?" Harry nodded. "When I was little I felt really at peace laying on my mother's chest, hearing her heartbeat," Louis made a small pause, pulling Eve even closer to his chest. The little girl didn't even flinch. "It's silly but I just remembered all of the times that Eve did that and I was oblivious. When she was a baby she'd fall asleep whenever I picked her up. Remember we'd always laugh about it, huh?"

"We did, yeah," Harry said simply, not wanting to interrupt the omega.

"And I just... When I was pregnant she went through like this frenzy of movement at like eleven-ish," he laughed but it was a slightly bitter laugh. "And I just wanted to sleep, so I'd sit down at the piano and play something by Bach and she'd stop moving almost immediately," Louis smiled at the memory, wanting to put his hands on a stomach that didn't have a baby in it anymore. "And when she went to my place that night you had that concert... I played that piece and she literally fell asleep on me," he choked out a laugh; eyes already filled to the brim with tears.

"Oh baby," Harry wanted to get to Louis so desperately, to hug him, to comfort him in any way possible, but Eve was on the way. So he stood up carefully, not wanting to bother his daughter and went to the other side of the bed, kneeling down so he'd be at Louis' height. The omega reluctantly pulled away from the little girl and turned around to face the alpha, desperate for some kind of comfort. Harry cleaned his tears with his thumb and eventually ended up pulling Louis from the bed and onto his arms, carrying him bridal style towards the recliner. Emotions were taking a toll on both of them, mainly on Louis though, and the omega felt like he was breaking apart. Truth to be told, he didn't have enough time to process everything that had happened those last couple of weeks, and he just was on the verge of finally breaking down. "Shh, it's okay, you can cry, sunshine," Harry said sweetly, sitting on the recliner with Louis curled up in his chest, sitting on his lap.

"I don't want to feel like this anymore. All I do is cry and... I should be happy that I found her," he said; face still buried into the alpha's chest and still crying, but at least he wasn't sobbing.

"You don't have to be happy, you can be sad. You had all these expectations when you were pregnant and then you gave birth and there was no baby anymore. You have every right in the world to not be okay," Harry said softly, rocking the omega back and forth and trying to calm him down even if it was fruitless. The omega was already calm, he was just unbearably sad. 

"That's the thing. I kind of am happy that I found her, but now I know I grieved someone who didn't die. I grieved my daughter Olivia who now happens to not be dead?" Louis' voice was muffled by Harry's chest, but it was still intelligible. "But yet she is dead because Eve isn't Olivia. Olivia is dead and Eve is just... sweet angel beautiful little Eve, your daughter." he put some weight on the word 'daughter'. "I... I was robbed of the possibility of raising my child. Someone killed my child,"

"Oh, Lou..." Harry said, shedding a tear or two in sympathy to the crying omega. It was so unfair, so damn unfair because his child was dead, yet she wasn't, and it was all just a difficult thing to understand and it was only a matter of time for this to settle. It had taken a little bit more than a week, but it had finally happened.

"I want to find the son of a bitch who did this to me, I want to find them and destroy them," and now he was mad. Mad that he had been robbed of the possibility of raising his own daughter, mad that someone had done this to him and even madder that no one had even put a little bit of hesitation on the subject. If his daughter had actually died her corpse should have gone with him in the ambulance, yet no one even wondered about her body, no one searched for her after Louis was admitted. 

"We will, love, I promise you" and with that, Louis' anger settled in the pit of his stomach. It was at that moment that he decided he wouldn't stop until getting his sweet vendetta on the son of a bitch who tore his life apart.


	24. Chapter XXII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!! How are you?? Don't kill me, please.
> 
> I know it's been almost a month since I've updated but in my defence, I've been having a pretty bad case of writer's block so... I think that with how bad it's been, this chapter didn't turn out to be that bad. That and I've been on vacation and stressing over the fact that I'm starting Uni in a month. Yay for me!
> 
> There's a reference to an episode of Lucifer (from Netflix, y' know, the hot devil), see if you can find it. And if you've never watched it before go watch it. Best series ever.
> 
> I love you, guys, thank you for your patience.
> 
> All my love, M.
> 
> P.S: I've left the chapter's word count at the end, let me know if you like it like that. I don't remember if I did it with the other chapter's as well.

"Everything is looking great, guys, she's healing nicely," Emanuel had said just a mere five minutes ago and everyone inside that room was having a blast, everyone being Harry, Louis and Eve. The little omega had been cleared for discharge and the only thing they lacked to go home was the signature of the on-call doctor. They needed to leave the hospital, their long stay -which almost lasted a month- was taking a toll on them.

"Do we have everything?" Harry asked, wanting to close the bag once and for all and be ready to leave.

"I'll double-check the bathroom but I think we do," Louis said, walking towards the bathroom as he spoke.

It had been another long week for the doctors to get around discharging Eve. Although they were seeing constant progress they were just too afraid she'd go downhill at home and not have medical attention. So, this meant they had to go through seven more days of 'dad, I wanna go home', 'when are we gonna go home?', 'I don't wanna go home, I'm gonna miss Lou,' and phrases of the sort coming from the little girl. She was fed up of being at the hospital, and yet she didn't want to leave because she'd see Louis less. It had melted Louis heart the first time he heard her.

Regarding Louis and Harry's relationship, it hadn't been easy to keep it from Eve. Sometimes the need to embrace and/or kiss the other was just too overwhelming, but they had to settle to cuddling -with Eve in the middle, of course- and smuggling a kiss here and there while she wasn't aware. Yeah, one would say it was a pretty tough week. Having to keep a relationship private while managing a five-year-old who wasn't in pain but still admitted to a hospital, who wanted to go all around the place was a job for more than one man. Luckily, there were two.

"Bathroom's clear!" Louis said from the bathroom, stopping to take a look at himself in the big mirror.

Finally, the bite mark Harry had left during their first time was fading. It had been pretty uncomfortable when Eve noticed it and asked about it, to which Louis answered with 'Harry bit me accidentally while we were playing once', which wasn't that big of a lie. Truth to be told, Harry had bitten quite deeply and Louis was scared a scar would be leftover. Don't get him wrong, he did want a scar, just not there. Instead, more to the middle of his neck, preferably surrounding his scent gland. He would be really happy with that.

"Should I call someone in?" Harry asked, nearing the button that called the nurses.

"Wait, who's on-call?" Louis asked, stepping back into the room and looking at an eerily quiet Eve and an overstressed Harry.

"Frederick something, I think," Harry answered, finally sitting down and closing the suitcase for good. They really couldn't believe they were going home.

"Frederick Young?" Harry nodded. "I'll text him," Louis announced as he dug out his phone from his back pocket.

"Should I be worried that you know that many people in here?" Harry really had intended for it to sound funny but no one could oversee the jealous undertone.

"Keep calm babe, I don't know everyone," Louis trailed off, panicking slightly when he heard himself call Harry the pet name but calming down once he saw that Eve had no reaction to it. "It's just the perks of being a Tomlinson, one of the _very_ few perks," Harry said nothing at that and just watched how his boyfriend texted this other doctor while trying to convince himself that he wasn't jealous. Of course, he was, fuck all this overprotective alpha behaviour.

They remained in silence for a little while until Louis noticed something was wrong with the little omega. She was way too quiet and underwhelmed with the whole idea of getting back home. She was sitting at the foot of the bed, letting her small feet dangle over the edge and looking down at her lap in a sad manner.

"Hey, baby, what's wrong?" Louis squatted down so he could meet her low blue eyes, and when he did he could tell she was already holding back tears. "You know you can tell us, right?" She nodded slightly, clearly doing a big effort not to cry. "What's wrong?" He was approaching her softly, motherly, and Harry could only watch them, completely mesmerized by the interaction.

"I... I don't wanna stop seeing y-you," she finally let a little sob out at the end, letting them know she was really upset about not seeing Louis on a daily basis.

"Aw honey, you won't," Louis said to her, grabbing her little hands into his. "I will _always_ be here for you,"

"Y-yeah, but you don't live with us," Louis looked up and his blue orbs met Harry's. They shared a sympathetic smile before letting Louis continue.

"I don't, but that doesn't mean I'll be out of your life," the male omega pulled a strand of the child's hair behind her ear, seeing finally how one tear had made its way out of her eye. "We'll still see each other,"

"But not every day," she added, looking back down to her lap.

Louis looked at Harry right then, hoping he could get some sort of back up. The little girl was really sad and he couldn't just go and tell her that Harry and he were together and that he'd see him frequently because they hadn't talked about it just yet. For the first time, he truly didn't know what to do regarding a child.

"Hey, would you be happy if Louis stayed at home with us tonight?" Harry offered, approaching Louis and Eve and lowering himself to their height as well. Eve nodded at Harry's suggestion, but still remained sad. "But we have to ask him if he wants to, right?" Eve nodded again. "Will you?" Eve nodded one last time before asking away.

"Do you want to sleep at our house tonight?" She said quietly and with that sweet little voice of a child, making Louis feel overjoyed somehow.

"Of course I want to," he answered, looking at how she smiled briefly before speaking again.

"And after?" She asked hopeful, lifting her head and looking deep into her father's eyes.

"We'll talk in the morning, okay?" She nodded at that, slightly defeated. "I love you, sweetie," Harry stood up again and kissed the crown of her head, looking at Louis in the eye while doing so. He knew they would talk about her that night, it was obvious.

Frederick Young chose just that particular moment to enter the room unannounced, watching the scene with confused but amused eyes.

"Hey, Lou, you called?" He walked past the door and stood next to the bed. He was a middle-aged alpha, slightly older than them, with beautiful raven hair, dark skin and contrasting bright amber eyes. He was indeed a beautiful alpha.

And Louis really couldn't explain why but hearing an unfamiliar alpha call him by his nickname, entering the room unannounced and approaching him so fast made him feel so uneasy. So he went towards what felt familiar, and it was the heat coming off from Harry's body. And he could tell Harry felt tense, too, threatened even.

"I... I just wanted you to sign the patient's discharge form so we- she can go home," he explained simply, standing right beside Harry and itching for his touch, for his warmth. He needed him to embrace him so he would feel safe.

"Sure, where's her chart?" Louis pointed to the foot of her bed and Frederick reached for it, signing it without looking too deep into it. And the foreign alpha was completely oblivious to the couple's behaviour. That or he was choosing to ignore it, which was most likely what was happening. "Well guys, it's done. Off you go," the alpha said, stepping back from the bed. "I guess you've been told about recovery at home already but just to remind you," he started the sentence looking at Louis, suggestion mingled within his tone, but ended it looking at Harry, so he could direct the instructions to him. "No big efforts, no outings unless it's necessary, keep a balanced diet... You must have seen the nutritionist already, so you know what to do. She has to drink lots of liquid and take it easy for the next few days. She'll have an appointment in a week from now to check on how she's doing," he said that with a tight smile, finally letting them know that he knew he was making them uncomfortable. And to be fair, so was he.

"Perfect," Harry said simply, standing still right where he was. "I guess we'll see you in a week then,"

"Perfect. My pleasure," Louis knew Frederick, so he knew pretty well that in any other circumstance he'd reach for a handshake. Luckily he was very well educated and knew best not to intervene more than he had to, thing Louis and Harry were glad of.

"Thank you, Fred," Louis said just as the alpha smiled tightly for the last time before exiting the room, leaving Harry and Louis alone with Eve again. Having him leave the room had already made the adults breathe in more easily. "You heard that, Eve? You can go home!" She smiled faintly, but she did regardless. That was a good sign.

And so they left, leaving Harry to carry the suitcase and Louis to walk alongside Eve, holding her hand tightly into his own and walking slowly. They were finally leaving, and neither Harry or Louis could keep in the huge smile and sense of relief they felt as they were walking home. Well, Harry and Eve were walking home, Louis was just tagging along.

They got to Harry's car and Louis was the one to help the little omega into her car seat, being extremely careful of her incision and not making her hurt much. She gave him a tiny smile as a 'thank you' and looked out the window; mixed feelings flooding her mind. She really did want to be home, be able to access her things and feel safe where she grew up. However, during her hospital stay Louis had become some sort of a constant in her life, too, and she wasn't ready, nor wanted, to give that up.

Harry closed the boot of the car and made his way to the driver's side, finding Louis had already sat on the passenger's seat. He gave the omega a sweet smile and started the car, eager to be home and sleep on his own bed for the first time in almost a month.

The ride back to Harry's place was a short one since they conveniently lived not that far away from the hospital, about five to ten minutes depending on traffic. Their house had a small porch and a small roof on the side so the car wouldn't be hit by the sun or rain every day. They had a wooden gate too, and Harry had to get out of the car to manually open it. The house itself was the typical family home but slightly smaller, painted in a light cream colour and with light grey roof tiles. Louis felt a warm flutter inside his chest at the sight of the house, loving the fact that little Eve had the chance to grow up in such a seemingly cosy place and not a mansion like he had, interacting more with the house staff than with his own mother.

"You have a lovely house," he turned around to face the back of the car, looking at Eve with soft eyes. "I would have loved to grow up in a house like this,"

"Why?" she asked simply, looking at him instead of out the window.

"My house was way too big, and up until I was your age it was only my big sister, my parents and I who lived in it. We had so much space that we would be apart more than we were together," he explained, remembering how he and his sister Georgia would play with Lila, their housekeeper and nanny because their parents would be just too busy to look after their own children. It kind of went against the nature of a wolf to overlook their pups as much as his parents had done, but he didn't blame them. He wouldn't have become the strong omega he was if it wasn't for their lack of presence.

"Big like a castle?" She asked with her eyes filled with emotion. She was all for princesses and fairy tales which told omega population they had to wait for the presence of an alpha -preferably a male- to save them and make them happy. Louis would have to have a chat with her about how omegas could also be independent.

"Almost," he settled for that. His childhood home had been an actual mansion, but he had never felt actually comfortable or 'at home' while he lived there. It was far too empty. "Hey, let's get off the car, shall we?" the little omega nodded and pressed on the button that unleashed her seatbelt while Louis got off the car to help her get down. He opened her door and careful as always, helped her set her feet on the ground, seeing her flinch slightly. "Everything okay?" He asked once she was standing.

"Yeah, my tummy hurt for just a second," she explained, taking Louis' hand into hers and walking towards the porch of her house while Harry drove the car to the roofed side of the house where they left it.

"Tell me, which room of the house do you like the most?" Louis asked the girl, trying to get her more on board with the idea of being home. She was always like a light, always sweet, making people laugh, lighting up the lives of the people around her. It was the first time Louis had to deal with her being down.

"My bedroom, I always play there," she answered simply, sitting down carefully in a swing they had right beside the door. "Which one is yours?" she asked back, moving her feet absently.

"From your house? I dunno, I've never been here before," he answered like it was obvious, looking at his surroundings. Harry did, in fact, have a lovely home, at least on the outside.

"No, dummy, your house that's almost like a castle," she said it like it was an obvious fact, rolling her eyes but smiling. Actually smiling. Louis couldn't help it and did the same, smiling widely.

"Oh, well, I guess I've always liked the music room," he said nonchalantly, looking at how Eve's grin got wider. He was certainly happy that she was smiling now.

"You had a music room in your house?!" She asked delightedly, looking up at the blue of Louis' eyes which was much like her own. "And what did you have there? CDs? Those gigantic discs dad puts on the thing with the needle?" Louis wanted to coo at her description of vinyl records and a turntable.

"I did yeah, and those are called vinyl records. You have to put them in the turntable to hear them," he explained. "We had one of those, yeah, and lots of instruments. My sisters were learning guitar, violin and trumpet but they all stopped taking classes, so now the instruments are just there," Eve was in awe.

"That is so cool!" Her sadness had been long forgotten, replaced by excitement at the idea of a room filled with instruments.

"One day I'll take you to that house and I'll show you, alright?" she nodded enthusiastically, loving the idea.

"What are you two talking about?" Harry approached them, standing right beside Louis and looking at his daughter with a big smile on his dimply face. He had seen them for afar and he had caught a glimpse of little Eve smiling, and he really couldn't be more thankful that Louis was in his life, shining his light over every aspect of it.

"Lou has a room for instruments only in his house!" she exclaimed, standing up from the swing far too quickly for her still-healing body. She whimpered a little but stood straight after a couple of seconds, being under the worried gaze of her father and Louis.

"Does he?" Harry asked once he noted his daughter was just fine.

"He does!" She was over the moon with the idea. Like father like daughter one may say. "Can we have one, too?" She asked hopefully, walking beside Louis and behind Harry as the alpha opened the door to their home.

"Baby, we don't have enough room for that or enough instruments for that matter," Harry said logically, pushing the door back and letting both omegas inside his home.

Louis was at a loss for words because, even if their home wasn't that much, the feeling he got once he stepped inside was unbelievable. They stepped into a rather short hallway where they would hang their coats in winter, but now as it was June it was mostly empty; two umbrellas, a black one and a bright pink one were hanging right beside the door for the rainy days. Stepping in the joint living a dining room, little Eve found her place on the angled light grey couch, sitting on one corner of it and pouting, saying: "but you have lots of cellos and violins, we could put them in their own room,".

"May I?" Louis asked the alpha politely, smiling up at him as he hung a black backpack on the hanger.

"Make yourself at home," Harry said, leaving the tiniest peck on Louis' lips once he noticed that the little omega wasn't paying attention to them. "And I don't have a lot of cellos, I have four, and two violins but because I work with them," he said to Eve, stepping in as well and making a beeline to the kitchen to put the kettle on.

"That is more cellos than _I_ own," said Louis, stepping in as well and taking a look at the beautiful room.

It was the perfect size for a house for two. The angled couch separated the living from the dining side of the room and made for a perfect lounging place, paired with a dark-wooden coffee table and a small fireplace, television hanging above it. Underneath all of it lay a cream coloured rug that made Louis want to go barefoot in it. On the dining side, there was a round table with four wooden chairs, suspiciously on the same style as the coffee table, dark-wooden top over one single square pillar, flowerpot with fake white lilies decorating the centre of it. It all looked so cosy and homey that Louis never wanted to leave, and found himself thankful that the one to raise his daughter did it so wonderfully and in a place like that one.

Harry came out of the kitchen, which was connected to the living/dining room by a wide arcade, holding two teacups, a small sugar pot, a small jar with milk and two little teaspoons. He walked over to the coffee table and placed them neatly over a small tablecloth Louis had managed to overlook, sitting down on the couch after doing so.

"The kettle's on, you up for some tea?" He asked the omega, who was still standing awkwardly at the entrance of the room, not knowing what to do or how to behave. He was at his boyfriend's house for the very first time and was acting like an actual teenager.

"Uh, yeah sure," he answered, still standing awkwardly and unmoving.

"Y' know, you can come over. Don't be shy," Harry said, looking at him with a grin plastered on his face, right dimple showing and all. Eve giggled a little and patted the armrest of the couch, inviting Louis to sit with them.

So he did, he walked over and sat down on the couch, leaving a safe three-foot distance between him and Harry for no other reason than Eve. As they had yet to talk about her and telling her about their relationship, he chose to keep some distance when all he wanted to do was sit on Harry's lap and kiss him fiercely. They hadn't got a chance to do so since their date all those days ago.

"Why so far?" She questioned him, scooting over to Harry and sitting on his lap, nuzzling her face in the crook of his neck and calming down with his scent.

"Do you want me to sit closer?" He asked the girl, watching Harry smile delightfully that he had his daughter so close to him and making a fond face himself. They were so easy to love that it was frightening.

_Love._

Shit, that was a big word.

It wasn't as if Louis hadn't thought about it... Well, that is if 'thinking' means barely letting the idea cross his mind in a moment of weakness and then letting it go as soon as it came, all out of fear. Yeah, he had thought about it a lot. It wasn't as if he didn't feel anything, in fact, he was pretty positive he loved the girl. He had always done so and more now that he knew she was also his little girl, the one he had mourned for and grieved as long as she'd been alive. But loving Harry? He did like the guy, _a lot_ actually, and he was really comfortable and happy standing where they were, with their recently started relationship, getting to know all the quirks and little things about each other, and he was also positive that he'd grow to love him one day. He just never expected things to go by so fast, he never thought that his feelings would grow so strong and quickly because, even if he wouldn't admit it to himself, he was growing fonder and fonder of the boy, slowly but surely falling in love with him and _shit._ That thought was certainly terrifying.

"Lou?" Eve asked, popping Louis bubble of panic and getting him back into context.

"Yeah yeah, what is it?" He quickly shook his head as if he were shaking away all the things he had barely thought of, smiling sweetly at the small omega.

"I told you I wanted you to sit closer," she mumbled, pouting slightly at the fact that Louis hadn't heard her. So Louis did as she wanted, scooting over to them but still keeping some distance from Harry, wanting to avoid questioning.

"Well, here I am," he said once he got near, pinching her cheek sweetly.

"Baby, what if you go to your bedroom and practise something on the keyboard?" Harry suggested, having noticed that Louis had a moment there and wanting to talk about it with him. Blame him for being far too aware of his boyfriend's facial expressions and reactions.

"Aye, but I want to be with you!" She exclaimed, clinging tighter to her father.

"But what if you go play, you practise and then you show us after dinner, ah? Like a mini-concert," Harry insisted, and Eve's face actually lit up at the idea, loving it already. She'd show them how well she could play. So she nodded enthusiastically and stood up, actually being careful, and left off to her bedroom in a haze of excitement. "I'll call you when dinner is ready, alright?" She yelled something in agreement to what Harry said and then they heard her door close, finally being left alone.

Louis snuggled his way into Harry's side, making him lift his arm and embrace him into a side cuddle. And of course, the omega just couldn't be happier.

"Finally alone," he murmured out, burying his head into Harry's chest and listening to the steady beat of his heartbeat. "She is something, isn't she?" He murmured as he looked up, clearly referencing the little girl, to which he was met with a peck on the tip of his nose.

"She is," Harry agreed, kissing Louis softly on the lips, chastely even. "I find that she looks like you more and more each day," he said as their lips parted from their kiss.

"Do you?" Louis asked, sitting up straight and climbing his way into Harry's lap, straddling him in a way that wasn't sexual at all, but it could be if they ever wanted to. Harry made a noise at the question, signalling he agreed with what they were talking. "I do, too,"

"Why is that?" Harry asked, placing his hand at the small of Louis' back and caressing the soft skin underneath his tee-shirt with his thumbs, smiling softly when he noted Louis had dimples there.

"Dunno, maybe it's the eyes," and yeah, Harry could feel it was still a sensitive topic, and he didn't actually know when it wouldn't be anymore. If it ever stopped being sensitive, that is. Louis was crawling back into his shell, not wanting to break down over it again, but it was something they had to talk about. They were in a relationship and shared a daughter one way or another.

"Or her hair... but what I meant was that she's also acting more like you," Harry said, noting that Louis could crumble if they kept at it. If he had to crumble again, Harry would keep him together, that was why they were in a relationship. That and that they were gone for each other.

"That could be because we've spent a lot of time together," Louis suggested, burying his face in the crook of Harry's neck and taking in his beautiful and calming scent. He didn't know how to feel about the prospect of Eve becoming his actual daughter one day, not just a pup he gave birth to and was taken away from him.

"Yeah, I think you're right, but I also think there's more to it, too," Louis left out a small whimper and clung tighter to Harry's frame. "But we can not talk about it if you don't want to," and Harry could truly feel how Louis was torn about the subject. But even if he could show him that it was alright to break apart with him, that it was safe, he also wanted to show him that he was under no pressure to do so. He would wait whatever time Louis needed to talk about it in depth.

"I'm just glad she's in my life and I'm in hers. That we've always been. For now, that's all I can take," Louis mumbled; sound muffled by the warm skin of Harry's neck. "And that we are together," he added, nuzzling further into Harry, making himself small. In the very background, outside their bubble, they could hear little Eve playing the piano softly and practising, and even if the matters touched were sensitive, Louis could say he loved being where he was at the moment. "Thank you," he added finally, bringing his hands up to play with the little hairs on Harry's nape that didn't make it into the man bun the rest of his hair was in.

"For what?" Harry mumbled back, nuzzling his head into Louis' shoulder and hugging him back.

"For being with me, for making me strong," and right then, Harry wanted to say a million things to him. He wanted to tell him how it was the other way around, that Louis made _him_ strong and not vice-versa, that Louis inspired so much in him that it was almost unbearable and yet, he stayed silent, corresponding the hug and doing nothing more because that was enough. They were enough.

They stayed like that, unmoving, for Lord knows how long, just enjoying the feel of having the other in their arms and being held. Although they had been able to do some cuddling while at the hospital, they couldn't be this demonstrative over there because Eve would ask and it certainly was a matter they weren't ready to face, so it felt nice to finally have their partner there for them, to be able to just hold each other.

"Love," Harry said after the haze of their exchange had worn off, still holding Louis tightly to his chest. "Are we gonna tell Eve?"

"We have to, don't we?" Louis asked, pulling back slightly just so he could see the alpha's face.

"I think we do, she will be really sad if we don't tell her that you have more than one reason to come back," Louis smiled softly at that, kissing Harry lightly and feeling all the fireworks and butterflies he felt the very first time.

"Tonight over dinner?" he was able to ask in the fraction of second he had before Harry was chasing his lips, engulfing him in yet another sweet kiss, sweeter than the last one. And they had an even harder time to pull apart from that one but eventually, Harry did, only to mumble a 'sure' and go back to kissing _his_ boyfriend.

They made out for quite a long time, letting their mouths discover their partner's, letting their hands wander and just touch for the mere reason of touching. Louis clung tightly to Harry's face, having both of his cheeks in his hands, and Harry clung to Louis' waist, wanting to lower his hands so badly it hurt. And they both wanted it, pretty bad, to lay on a bed and make love again, to feel the connection a knot meant, to feel all the pleasure they could give and receive, and yet they both knew they couldn't. Eve was just a few rooms away and they didn't have it in them to have sex while a five-year-old was in the same building. They just couldn't. They could do it in the outside, plausible of being caught by the police, yet they couldn't do it in Harry's own home.

"I want you so bad," Harry had mumbled in between kisses, going straight back to making out.

"Eve is in her room, we can't" Louis managed to mumble in the short spans of time he had to catch his breath, going back to kissing his boyfriend and trying to not get wet at the thought of making love with him again.

"Ugh," Harry complained, lowering his hands and giving in to his instincts, already tempted by the faint scent of Louis' slick. He placed both of his hands on Louis' butt, having missed how his buttcheeks felt against his palms. Don't blame him, for an alpha who had gone years without sex, ten days had been too much.

"Harry..." Louis said warningly, unable to stop kissing him and even more unable to lift the alpha's hands up and put them back on his waist. He quite liked that the alpha liked his ass, he was proud of it. And he really knew they should stop, but the problem is, he didn't want to. So, without thinking he parted their lips and spoke. "In the shower, quick,"

Harry smiled so widely at that and stood up immediately, careful not to hurt the omega with the rapidness of his movement, and grabbing him by his hand he pulled him to his own bedroom, where he had an en-suite bathroom they could use to be more careful. He also locked the door to the master bedroom just in case and they went at it. He was smiling so big that dimples and white teeth were showing underneath his blown eyes, so much that the beautiful green they held was now just a mere thin ring around the darkest black Louis had ever seen. He loved that Harry would react to him in such a way, with that much desire. It made him feel like he was worth a million dollars.

😏

They made it into the bathroom by means of kissing; Harry pushing Louis against the white tile wall as he kissed him fiercely, letting his hands go wherever they wanted, touching all the beautiful realm that was Louis' caramel soft skin. Louis was eager too, kissing back with as much vigour, hands already looking for the hem of Harry's tee-shirt and pulling it upwards, revealing the masterpiece that Harry's torso was. Unfortunately, they had to part briefly for Harry's upper garment to go over his head, but they went back to kissing shortly after.

"I missed you, I missed this," Harry said in between kisses, voice deep and rough as he lowered his lips through Louis' chin, all the way through his neck and wanting to go lower but finding Louis' white tank top in the way. He grabbed the hem of it and got rid of it as well, leaving Louis' torso uncovered and lowering his kisses through his pecs, nipples and kneeling down to go even lower over his abdomen, belly button, navel up until he got to the button of his jeans, teasing him mercilessly. Louis wished they had all the time in the world to extend their foreplay as he was pretty fond of the idea of gratification delay, one may say.

"Please, Haz," Louis said in a breath that almost sounded moany. Harry wanted him to talk in moans, to be desperate for him. "Gotta make it quick," Louis reminded him, putting his small hands to work on Harry's hair, undoing his man bun and playing with his wild curls, tugging at them whenever Harry teased his fangs over Louis' skin. "Fuck," he breathed out when one of Harry's unretracted fangs slid strongly enough for it to sting pleasantly on the right side of his abdomen.

"To the shower, now," the alpha ordered with his pupils blown, looking at the omega hungrily as he did what he was told, turning the shower on and undoing the button and zipper of his jeans. Harry did the same, pulling them down together with his boxers, standing in the full glory of his naked body; cock so hard it was flushing already.

"Oh god," was all that came out of Louis' mind when he turned around to face the alpha; a huge gush of slick coming out of him and wetting his underwear further. In the time it took Harry to take a hold of the smell of it, Louis pulled his own pants and underwear down, standing naked before the majestuous alpha and ready to be fucked, ready to be torn apart in the few minutes they had together.

Harry's eyes went even more black and dark when the delicious and sweet scent made its way up to his nose, which Louis thought was impossible as his eyes were already almost completely black.

"Perfect," the alpha mumbled as he, driven by the smell of the omega's slick and his scent, walked forward and kissed him again, stepping into the shower and letting the warm water hit both bodies, lips fiercely attached to Louis'. "So damn perfect," his hands went from the omega's cheeks to his neck, then down his sides to his waist, finally grabbing onto his ass as their final destination, squeezing and pulling with determination. He was so eager, so desperate, that he didn't waste time and did as he wanted, index and pinky spreading the omega's cheeks apart as his middle finger teased at Louis' hole before inserting two fingers without warning.

"Fuck," the omega whined as Harry's fingers slid in and out of his hole with ease, no resistance whatsoever as Harry scissored him open and prepared him for the thickness and length of his own shaft. He was a mess already, whining inside the alpha's mouth and wrestling underneath him. He needed it so much that he let his hands wander down Harry's torso down to the cock that would be fucking him senseless in a mere couple of seconds, wrapping his fingers around it and pumping it slowly. And Harry was so affected by that that his own movements started to become erratic, having to add a third finger to do the job right.

"Turn around," and Louis obeyed to the order, turning around and presenting his ass to the alpha, arching his back and placing both of his palms against the cold tile. He wouldn't lie, he missed the feeling of the alpha's fingers spreading him open but he knew bigger and better things were going to come. That and himself, of course. "You should see yourself, a fucking masterpiece," Harry said, taking in the sight of Louis with his hands and torso pressed against the wall, back arched and ass popping out, ready to be thoroughly fucked. And so he did, grabbing the omega by the waist with one hand and his shaft with the other, driving it into Louis' gushing hole and pressing the head slightly against the rim before sliding it in, making the omega gasp in pleasure. The feeling of stretch and fullness was so much to handle to the omega as Harry slid in painfully slowly that when he bottomed out Louis couldn't even breathe. And luckily for the omega, the alpha wasted no time with balls pressed tightly against Louis ass before pulling back, slamming into him with the force of an animal, picking up a pace within seconds.

"Oh," Louis moaned, loving how he felt full to the brim, loving how he was being driven to the edge by the alpha, loving even how the bathroom smelled of them, of mating. He mumbled some unintelligible words of approval and found the strength within himself to press upon his hands and pull back his torso against Harry, baring his neck and taking the thrusts of the alpha as if they were an oasis in the middle of the dessert.

"Mine," the alpha mumbled in a haze of possessiveness, pounding deeply inside the omega and drawing the filthiest yet most beautiful noises humanity would never hear out of him, for they were for Harry's ears only.

One of the alpha's hands was holding his weight against the wall while the other one was still tightly holding onto the omega's waist, probably leaving bruises neither of them cared about and it was such a beautiful yet rough scene, two naked bodies allowing two naked souls to merge into one once again. Sadly, they would have to wait for that to actually happen, at least until they talked about it and Louis' next heat arrived. However, that wouldn't be enough to keep Harry from biting as his mouth had found its place in the crook of Louis' neck, where his shoulder and neck met; fangs already teasing the area, ready to sink in the soft flesh, driven purely by instinct.

"' M close," was all that Louis had been able to say; arms trembling and having a hard time to keep himself pressed to Harry's chest. Luckily the alpha noticed and moved the hand on the omega's waist to rest on the middle of his chest, pressing them together even tighter. "Right there... Mhmm," and the omega, drunk on the haze of sex, was able to be careful enough not to scream much when the alpha hit his bundle of nerves, never missing from then on.

"Like that?" Harry asked and Louis nodded eagerly, letting the hand on the torso of the omega wander through it, touching the softness of his wet skin.

"Alpha..." Louis was a mess, he could not articulate any word coherently, his mind being entirely taken over by the feel of Harry's cock sliding in and out of him, the feeling of his own stomach tightening in a very well-known manner, telling him he was extremely close to coming undone. And he wanted to so badly. "Harry, alpha...," his moans were growing in quantity as he neared his climax, which was when he momentarily forgot about everything, about Eve being home, about them being in the shower and he just came, moaning at the top of his lungs and panting heavily as he lay all of his weight on the alpha. The alpha who was lashing out on Louis' hole, thrusting deeper, rougher and faster every time, knot already catching on the tight ring of muscles. The only thing Harry needed to get over the edge was the tightening of Louis' insides that came with his own orgasm. That tiny bit of added pressure was just enough for him to let his knot slip in one more time and catch inside the omega; teeth sinking into the flesh of the crook of his neck, locking them together as they almost came at the same time.

"Yes, Lou, so perfect" Harry moaned before biting him, thick gushes of his seed filling Louis' insides as they both panted, coming back down from their highs. Louis mumbled something unintelligible before speaking.

😏

"I... I was gonna tell you not to knot," he said, still hazy from the high of his orgasm, breathing in deeply as he put his weight back on himself, standing up but being pressed to the wall still. Harry, on the other side, still had his fangs buried into Louis' skin and was still trying to come back to his five senses, the taste of the omega's blood far too savoury to pull back. "You really like biting, don't you?" Louis teased, pushing his ass back against Harry's crotch and feeling the knot slide in just a tiny bit deeper. He heard Harry's breath catch in his throat before he pulled his canines back and started licking at the wound he had created, this one slightly deeper than the one from their first time.

"Sorry," Harry said in a hoarse voice, and if Louis had to guess how he looked he'd say he had his hair stuck to his face and his eyes still pitch black, maybe his lips more flushed and red because of the bite. That image alone was enough to make his spent cock twitch in excitement and his hole gush out more slick. "Though I'm not really sorry," his voice was slowly coming back to its normal low timbre and Louis wanted to hear so much more from sex-hazy Harry.

"Doesn't surprise me," Louis managed, feeling the knot inside him pump Harry's warm seed further into his womb, to which he responded by placing his right hand on his lower abdomen. "Hope it doesn't take an hour for it to go down," he breathed out again, pulling his head back to rest it on the crook of Harry's neck, where he was very much welcome.

"Don't think it will," Harry mumbled, kissing the omega on the cheek while they stood there, knees weak as they recovered from their orgasms.

"Hope next time is in a bed at least," Louis teased, snuggling in deeper into the warmth of Harry's body. He loved how the alpha was always warm to the touch.

"Yeah, sorry about that," the alpha answered.

"No need to be sorry, love. I loved all three times, even if it seems we've taken a liking to the shower in particular," Harry laughed at that.

"I think we have, indeed,"

They stood there for a couple more minutes, trying to get out of the sex haze before attempting to move -which they had to-, otherwise one or both of them could end up hurt. Luckily by that time, Harry's knot had shrunk, not enough for him to pull out but enough for them to move with less of a hassle. And so they did, Harry grabbing the shower items and Louis grabbing a sponge to scrub themselves as clean as they could, given their position.

Harry took his time on Louis and carefully washed his hair, back and bum while the omega washed his front, relaxing into the soft massages Harry was giving as he scrubbed his skin clear. That man knew how to work wonders as he rubbed the knots on Louis' back, making them hurt less and the omega whine in non-sexual pleasure.

By the time Harry was done giving Louis a massage, his knot had gone down enough for him to pull out. And so he did, being careful not to hurt the omega and not to let a single drop of his seed leave his hole, even if it really had no purpose. No alpha liked seeing their seed slide out of their omega's hole after knotting as it meant pregnancy would be less likely, and even if Louis couldn't physically get pregnant given that he wasn't in heat, Harry still acted by instinct.

"All set," the alpha mumbled when the omega turned around, finally seeing his beautiful and flustered face. He had to thank the heat of the shower for that.

"Always so instinctive," Louis answered as his hands went up to Harry's long hair, rubbing it softly.

"Sorry, it's just... I can't help it," he clearly was referencing the issue of Louis and pregnancy. Everything alphas did during and after mating was solemnly to heighten the chances of their omega getting pregnant, they both knew that. It was the fact that Louis was most likely sterile what made him feel bad about it.

"It's okay, I've been acting on instinct, too," Louis confesses, pouring some shampoo on Harry's head and actually washing his hair. "We shouldn't push it, just do what feels right," he was clearly referencing to getting pregnant, the idea of actually trying for a pup, and both were able to get that message.

"I know. When's your next heat, by the way?" Harry asks absently, hands fleeing to Louis' waist and pulling him closer from there.

"'Bout three weeks," Louis said simply, pushing Harry's hair out of his face before flipping them around so the alpha would be under the shower stream and the shampoo would wash away.

"Will you...? What do you want to do?" Harry asks tentatively, pulling Louis closer as the omega hugs him tightly. Stepping out of the water had made him cold.

"I... I would really like spending it with you," Louis confesses, hugging the alpha tighter as he walks forward, letting some of the warm water run over Louis' body. Harry's breath hitches.

"You know I... I don't think I'll be able to hold back from biting," and they both knew he was talking about the more serious bite rather than the other ones.

"So what?" Louis asked, clearly not bothered by the subject and really hoping Harry wasn't either.

"I... Are you sure you want that? It's a bond for life," Harry mentions insecurely, hugging the omega tighter as he feels him pull back, wanting to look into his eyes.

"Do you not want that?" The omega asked in return; bright blue eyes looking into the green of Harry's with an emotion that was far from hurt. He would understand him if he said he wanted to wait a bit more before bonding, he completely would. It would sting a little but he'd get over it.

"Of course I do," Harry was quick to reply, erasing the small traces of insecurity from the omega. "I just... I don't want you to regret it," now he was the one insecure.

"Why would I? Haz, I... I really do want to be with you, more than anything," his small hand reached up to stroke the alpha's cheek. "Shit, I think I'm already in love with you, maybe I have been for I don't know... The last five years maybe?" Harry smiled sweetly at that, nuzzling into the touch of Louis' hand. "There's nothing in the world I would want more than being bonded to you for the rest of our lives,"

"Baby..." Harry breathed out, looking into the omega's eyes and unable to decide which one was prettier. "I love you, too," he pulled him in for a kiss, soft and wet lips connecting over words of commitment. Who cared that they had been together for only ten days? Who cared if they were going too fast? They had been made for each other all along, it was about time they did something about it.

So, with the thought 'fuck relationship standards' on their minds, they stepped out of the shower, wrinkled like raisins, and made their way to Harry's bedroom to get dressed. Louis borrowed some clothes from Harry; a pair of briefs, a tee-shirt and the shortest pair of shorts he had ever seen. And he didn't have the heart to complain about them given that Harry chose them for him. The bastard had probably done it on purpose.

"You look so cute with my clothes on," Harry complimented as he stood with a pair of grey sweatpants and a loose graphic tee-shirt of his own, eyeing the omega up and down.

"I honestly don't know how you fit into these shorts," and okay, they were short shorts, but they weren't exactly small given that Louis had to tie them at his waist for them to fit around it. "The shirt I can see it," which was also big on him, so he had it draped over the shoulder Harry hadn't bitten. "But these? Do you like going out with half a buttcheek out or summat?" And the alpha actually chuckled at that.

"Dunno, haven't used them in over two years I think," he answered while he dried his hair with the towel. "But believe me, they look wonderful on you,"

"Of course you'd say that," Louis laughed lightly before sitting on Harry's bed and drying his hair with his own towel. "D'ya have a hairbrush close by?"

"Oh honey, I have a collection. What do you want?" Harry offered, setting his own towel aside and untangling his curls with his hands.

"Just whatever is fine," and Louis was handed a simple hairbrush with which he accommodated the mess that was in his head after that shower, brushing his straight wet hair backwards. "Thank you, babe," Louis said as he handed it back, blowing Harry a kiss.

"Should we go check on Eve?" Harry asked, brushing his hair with a comb this time and trying to keep his wet curls in order. "She's been awfully quiet," Louis looked at the clock hanging on the wall beside the door and noticed it had only been forty minutes since she left to her bedroom, so he wasn't that worried.

"I'll go check on her and make us some tea, okay?" Harry nodded while still combing his hair. "Sugar, no milk?"

"You know me so well, baby," Harry praised, giving the omega a painfully beautiful smile, dimples and all.

"Still don't know how you can drink tea like that, that is not tea," Louis said to him before stepping out of the room, making a beeline to the livingroom but stopping at Eve's door. He knocked lightly and when he heard the distinctive 'come in' in Eve's voice he entered the room, finding Eve sitting at her desk and playing the piano.

"Hi Lou," she turned around in her bright pink chair to greet him. "You took a shower?" She asked curiously.

"I did yeah, hope you don't mind," Louis said simply, standing at her doorway.

"Not at all," she smiled sweetly, smiling as she looked at Louis up and down, probably recognizing her father's clothes and smirking with something close to malice.

"Everything alright?" He asked her, noting how she was blatantly scanning him. She was so much more intelligent than she let on.

"Sure. Call me for dinner?" She asked with her built-in sweetness and Louis only smiled, nodding lightly and stepping out of the room, closing the door behind him. That had been his most awkward encounter with Eve ever since he met her, which is saying a lot. He chose to think she was taken aback by him showing up in Harry's clothes and he would leave it at that, not digging too deep into the matter and plainly looking over the huge knowing smirk the little girl had given him.

So he made a beeline to the open kitchen and turned on the electric kettle on again, ready to make his and Harry's cups of tea and not think about how Eve could have possibly guessed he and Harry were together. He would definitely not think about that and with a sure stance, he grabbed the electric kettle and walked over to the living room, setting it on top of the coffee table and arranging the tea. They'd both have Yorkshire black tea, but he filled Harry's cup all the way up and his only halfway.

Five minutes later and he was sat on Harry's sofa, knees curled up to his chest and cup of tea in hand, milk and no sugar, just like tea was supposed to be drunk. Out of boredom, he picked his phone up, noticing it was six-thirty in the evening already and thinking about what they would have for dinner. Such a domestic thing to do... But he liked it, loved the idea of domesticity.

Harry made it to the living room almost ten minutes after Louis left his room, with his curls graciously draped on his shoulders and looking soft, probably thanks to some hair product Harry used. He smiled sweetly to his boyfriend and sat down beside him, grabbing his own cup of tea and thanking Louis with a kiss on the cheek. Louis could live every single day like this for the rest of his life and he would die happy. And they stayed like that, in pure comfortable silence as an old married couple would do, just enjoying each other's company. Well, that until unavoidably Louis started thinking about all the 'Eve could know about Harry and me' thing and well, he just had to spit it out, didn't he.

"Haz, I think Eve may know about us," he said simply, sipping lightly on his tea and looking at the alpha react. Harry, on the other hand, wasn't too surprised or scared, he was just barely taken aback.

"How come?" The alpha asked, sitting cross-legged on the sofa and facing the omega.

"Dunno I just... When I went into her room to check on her she looked at me with this grin... As if she knew we are onto something," Louis explained, liking the warmth in his hand propitiated by his cup.

"Well, you went into her room having just showered at her house and wearing my clothes, I mean, I reckon you just gave her a bit of material to work with and she's intelligent. She'll put two and two together," Harry said nonchalantly. They had already decided they would tell Eve about them over dinner, this couldn't be so bad, could it?

"If she hasn't already," Louis added, afraid she wouldn't take it well or something.

"Love, look, we've been through this and it'll be fine, just think this was you easing her into it. Besides she's already said she'd like it if we were to be together so... We have pretty good reasons to be optimistic about it," Harry added as he sipped from his own tea.

"She didn't actually say that. She told me she'd like it if I was her mum... And I still don't know how to feel about that on a whole different level," Louis opened up and Harry smiled sympathetically at him, knowing that he'd never get to fully understand how Louis felt about it.

"If you feel like you should act like her mum then do it, I don't want to pressure you into anything you don't feel ready to do, so act as you feel you should," Harry was really sweet about it and it melted Louis' heart how he could think of Louis' processes without letting his instincts get in the way. He really loved the guy.

"I don't know what I did to deserve you," he says it and he means it, completely heartfelt as he watches a shy smile paint the alpha's lips enough for one tiny shade of a dimple to appear.

"You are so amazing, Lou. You just don't see it but believe me when I say that you are the best thing that has ever happened to me," and Louis wanted to cry because he was feeling pretty sensitive. Fuck omega mind. He really loved Harry and he had for a while now, he just had to let time wash over them to finally find out.

"And Eve?" He asks with a low voice, feeling small sitting on that sofa.

"She sort of comes with you, doesn't she?" Louis smiled small, still not knowing how he felt about the subject. On one side Eve was his and would always be, she was a part of him and on the other, he felt like he didn't have the right to take that away from Harry because Eve was who she was because of Harry, not him. He felt like he loved her a mother would love their pups, but he also felt like he didn't deserve to feel that way either. Time was the only thing that would be able to deal with such ambiguity.

"I love you, Haz, thank you," Louis says with all the honesty within him, and the smile he gets from the alpha is priceless, looking down with dimples and all. How come he hadn't paid attention to what he felt before? How come he had missed all of this?

That night they decided to skip the diet ordered to Eve and Louis and just order a pizza. Neither of them had it in them to cook anything at that moment and they felt the need to just cuddle and let all the problems fade away. Which they did, to the point of standing up at seven-thirty in the evening when the pizza finally arrived at Harry's house. Harry called Eve and Louis quickly rushed to the front door, paying for the pizza himself before Harry got the chance to.

"Thank you so much, keep the change," he said to the delivery guy before closing the door behind him, walking into the living room and setting the pepperoni pizza on the dining table.

"Lou, and the delivery guy?" Harry asked as he came into the room, followed by Eve who was humming a commonly known melody behind him and looking confusedly at the pizza box on the table.

"I paid him," Louis said nonchalantly, giving Harry puppy eyes as he pulled a chair for Eve, letting her sit and kissing the crown of her head before approaching the alpha. "Need any help setting the table?"

"How come you paid him? I think we agreed I'd pay," Harry protested, walking into the kitchen as the discussion went on; Eve was already giggling at them from her chair.

"Oh god, not again," Louis said, clearly referencing the issue they had when they bought breakfast that time and Harry paid for both. Eve laughed loudly beside him. "Besides, being you the one to call the pizza place doesn't mean you have to be the one to pay for it. It was no biggie," he said childishly, sitting beside the girl and watching Harry from afar. He was collecting plates, cutlery -which would be left one hundred per cent unused- and glasses and he was visibly affected by the fact that the omega had paid for them.

"But Lou..." He protested, coming into the living room holding three white plates, three glasses and three pairs of cutlery.

"Haz, it's fine. Gosh, these alphas and their need to provide," he said that as he elbowed Eve lightly, both laughing at the alpha. At that, though, Harry had nothing to say, and after setting the table he sat down, the child in between the adults as he placed one slice of pizza on each plate.

"Pepperoni yay!" Eve squeaked of joy, finally getting something to eat other than mashed veggies with lean meat. Ordering a pizza had been kind of an irresponsible decision on the adults' side but neither of them wanted to cook and it wouldn't actually harm them.

"Is it your favourite?" Louis asked the girl, starting on to his own slice and grabbing it with his bare hands as he saw no one cared that much about etiquette.

"Yes, it is," Eve said with too big of a mouthful of pizza, struggling to chew.

"No talking with your mouth full," Harry reprimanded her before starting on his own slice, finding joy in having both omegas to himself.

They stayed like that for a bit of time, talking about meaningless stuff as they ate; Eve having trouble to even finish her first slice as she had always been a girl who ate little. Of course, after a few words from Harry, the girl was able to finish her slice, looking full to the brim. Louis and Harry both ate one more slice before closing the box and putting it away, both deeming themselves full.

And then Harry shared a look with Louis as Eve was playing with her long her and he just knew it was time. They would finally tell the little girl about their relationship.

"Evie," Harry called for his daughter's attention, getting it almost immediately.

"Yes, dad?" She said with that sweet voice of hers.

"We... We want to talk to you... About something, do you have a minute?" Harry was wary, looking at Eve and seeing how she reacted and replaying in his head the conversation he had had with Louis about her possibly knowing about them.

"What's it about?" She asked curiously, looking at Louis and smiling sweetly.

"Well, you... You love Lou, right?" She nodded at the assumption, nearing her chair to Louis' and cuddling into his side to better show her point. "Why do you love him?"

"Ehm..." She hesitated briefly. "Because he's kind, funny, he makes me laugh, he... He gave me a little piece of his liver to help me get better," Louis was silently cooing at her words and smiling so widely it hurt. He loved Eve so much and he was so glad that Harry had turned his baby into that beautiful and loving girl. "He took care of me," she finally added, smiling sweetly at her dad.

"He did all those good things, yeah, he took good care of us, didn't he?" Harry asked back, to which Eve nodded enthusiastically and Louis blushed deeply, not knowing how to deal with so much complimenting. "And you told us you'd miss him now that you're not admitted anymore, right?" She hugged the omega tighter, burying her face into his side.

"I don't want Lou to go," Eve said in a small voice, hugging Louis as if her life depended on it.

"But baby, I don't have to go," Louis said as he stroked her straight brunette hair, letting her cuddle further into him.

"But you have your house! You're not gonna be with me every day like I want," she complained as she looked up and met Louis' blue eyes which wore a shade much like her own. They were full of emotion, she really did not want to stop seeing Louis every day, she had got used to him.

"But what if I can?" Louis suggested, meeting the child's confused eyes as he refuted her.

"But you don't," she crossed her arms over her chest and, although she was no longer hugging Louis, she was still draped over him.

"But what if I do?" Louis insisted and Eve just looked confused, as if she wanted further explanations to ease her mind. "Look, when you were in the hospital and were very sick, your dad and I started to hang out a lot. We were friends before, you remember that, right?" Eve nodded. "And well, while you were there we discovered that maybe, besides being friends, we also loved each other a little bit," and it was like a proverbial weight had been lifted off his shoulders the moment those words came out of his mouth. Harry was smiling widely, too, endeared at the faces Eve was making.

"Like I love you and daddy?" She asked, directing her glance towards her father as she spoke, wanting to get everything cleared up.

"Not quite," Harry said simply, moving his chair closer to the omegas before he explained himself. "Baby, Lou and I are together as in... You know how your classmates have mummies and daddies?" She nodded vigorously, enjoying the direction the conversation was taking. "I'm your dad like I've always been, but now you have Lou too, and if you want, only if you really truly want," he wanted to make sure the child knew that what he'd say would be done only if she wanted to. "You can have him as your mum as well," Eve smiled widely at that, wider than ever before but even then she said no word.

"Your daddy and I... We are a couple," and as Louis looked into Harry's eyes at that moment he knew he was right where he was meant to be. Harry placed his hand over Louis' atop the table to reinforce what he was saying, a movement that didn't go by unnoticed by the little omega, whose smile only got wider.

"You're my mummy now?" The question was directed at Louis, and she was looking up at him with such a beautiful shine in her eyes... It was blinding.

"Only if you want me to be," the little girl crawled her way into Louis' lap, straddling his thighs and looking up at him in disbelief.

"I was right," she mumbled lowly as she saw Harry sit on the chair she had been sitting at.

"Right? What are you talking about?" Louis asked her, pulling her hair out of her face and behind her ears.

"Back in the hospital, when I told you that daddy talked about you with uncle Niall and that he had feelings for you," Harry blushed a deep shade of red at the reminder but smiled when he heard how Eve said the word 'feelings' lowly and shyly as if it were forbidden.

"Yeah, you were," Louis agrees and locks eyes with the girl once again, liking how out of all the physical things she took out of him the eyes had been part of that. And then those beautiful eyes got glossy and before Louis knew it he had a handful of Eve, tightly pressed to his chest as the child hugged him, sobbing lightly. "Hey, baby, what's wrong? Talk to us," even if she was crying, Louis wasn't afraid it was because she didn't want them together.

"I'm really happy," she said lowly, hugging Louis even tighter.

"Aw, it's okay, Monkey," Louis kissed her head and hugged her back, sharing a look with his alpha that said everything, yet nothing at all. This had gone even better than they had expected, that was a sure thing.

"I'm really happy that you're my new mum," she said finally, still hugging Louis as if her life depended on it and actually making the omega shed a couple of tears, too. "I love you,"

"I love you, too, princess," Louis said, immediately feeling the comfort and calm that Harry gave when he hugged him, only that this time he was hugging them both, making them genuinely feel like a family. For the first time ever since Louis left his childhood home he could say he had a family. And he loved it to pieces.

They lived up to that, spending the rest of their night as a family would: Eve and Louis at the piano playing the main reef of Heart and Soul while Harry accompanied them with his cello, playing lower notes, and laughing every time that one of them would mess up. And when night time came and Eve had to go to sleep, she kissed both of them on the cheek and when she thought Louis wasn't listening she thanked Harry to bring her Louis as her mum.

And Louis went to sleep happy because he knew he had the perfect little family to wake up to.

-  
 _Word count: 11_ _431_


	25. Chapter XXIII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello beautiful people! Here I come, bearing a brand new chapter. 
> 
> Guys WTF?? Like, last update we were under 900 hits and just a couple hours after I updated it went up to 1500+??? Thank you so much, I really thought no one would read this. I love you so much.
> 
> Also, I checked something on chapter 13 last night and GUYS, why did you let me get away with posting that?? It had awful grammar mistakes, I couldn't even believe I had written that. Please, when you see something like that again (which I hope you don't), call me out so I can go fix it. 
> 
> I hope you like this little number I did here, it's a little angsty but well, it is what it is and I know you love it.
> 
> Btw, I'm going away on vacation next Wednesday (the 12th), so if I don't update by then (which I don't think I will) I won't update up until the 22nd which is when I come back. Just taking a little breather before a chaos named university comes for me. 
> 
> Love you all and hope you like this as much as I did.

"Hello?" There was the omega, having woken up earlier than his boyfriend and daughter, pacing the living room with his phone on hand and finally dialling the number he did not want to dial. He had hesitated for a while, unsure if he should call or not. "Mister?" Was heard from the other side of the line and Louis had to come back to himself and find it in him to talk to that woman.

"Hello," he said finally; sweaty palms making his phone prone to falling off his hand.

"You called Allyn Williams venue, my name is Alisha, what can I help you with?" The woman on the other side of the line was clearly annoyed at Louis, wanting to end the call as soon as possible.

"I... I'm Louis Tomlinson I-I was calling to see if I could get information on a woman named Michelle? She worked there five years ago," Louis said slowly and carefully, afraid emotions would be on the verge of too much.

"Sorry, I am not allowed to disclose any worker's information to the public," she said, slightly more appalled now that she knew who was calling. Louis' family was renown and it was common knowledge they were rich. Of course, she was interested now.

"No, see, I need to contact her, I... I want to start an investigation for a personal matter and I need her testimony," Louis explained honestly, though he had decided he would not start any investigation at all. He would find out who did this to them but if he took it to justice he was risking Eve being taken away from Harry, so he opted against it.

"Still, it puts me in an unethical position, sorry sir," and of course, Louis had to resort to his last argument, which he did not want to do, but he really needed Michelle's information.

"I don't know how long you've been working there, but five years ago at the end of April I gave birth in one of your bathrooms," he said in kind of a rush and he heard the woman's breath hitch. "This is none of your business but I have an investigation to make about that and seeing as I don't remember anything from it, I was hoping Michelle would help us clear some things up,"

"I... Mr Tomlinson, you're putting me in an uncomfortable place right now," the woman, Alisha, answered, not knowing if she should give in to his claim.

"Believe me, it's not worse than the one that I'm in," he said, hoping she would crack and give him the information he needed. She took a deep breath in.

"Michelle Richards," Louis sighed with relief when he heard her say that. For a couple of seconds the only sound there was her typing on the computer. "She retired last year. If you give me your email I'll send you her contact information," the woman gave in and Louis was thankful, really thankful.

"Thank you very much, miss, you're helping me a lot by doing that," he thanked her, genuinely relieved.

He was giving him her contact information just as Harry walked in on the living room, sporting a bare torso and a confused face, rubbing his right eye with his fist as if he were a child. It was a really endearing image seeing such a buff and overall big alpha waking up in front of him like that.

"Lou?" He asked, walking towards his boyfriend and wrapping his arms around his waist from behind, resting his chin on the omega's shoulder.

"Thank you so much," Louis said to the woman in the line before hanging up, leaning into Harry's touch as he did so. "Good morning, babe," he greeted his alpha, placing a sweet and short peck on the alpha's cheek.

"Who was that?" Harry asked instead, hugging the omega tighter to his chest and yawning, not so happy that it was eight in the morning and they were already up. Eve had kept them up the night before, having snuck into Harry's bed and asking questions about how relationships and 'grown-up's love' worked. When they went to check the time and send her to bed they realised it was half-past one in the morning, so they rushed her to bed and ended up falling asleep at two in the morning. Whereas Louis was accustomed to little sleep, Harry wasn't, so he was being all cute and sleepy behind Louis and the omega wanted to kiss all over his face.

"That was someone from the Allyn Williams venue," Louis answered and he watched Harry put two and two together. He could be sleepy, but he did remember pretty well the location where he had found his daughter.

"That was... You gave birth there," He said matter of factly, swinging side to side as if he and Louis were dancing, only without the music.

"I know," Louis sighed deeply, leaning into Harry's touch. "When I... You know," and yeah, it was still difficult to talk about it, to even acknowledge it had happened. There was just this pain in his chest, it stung to talk about it. He had always wondered how different his life would have been if his baby hadn't died, or worse now: if she hadn't been taken away and left in the woods to die. "There was this woman there and I... I remember her helping me go through it. She was the one to help her out of me," Harry kept silent, encouraging the omega to go on with a soft nudge at his curvy hips. "I just asked for her information so maybe I could... I dunno, talk to her? Don't have anything planned," Louis said simply, relaxing in the alpha's embrace and letting him carry his weight, hearing his soft hums. He really needed the comfort.

"Do you... Want me to go with you?" Harry asked, not stopping the soft and small movements they were making as they seemed to be soothing the omega to some extent. And of course, there was nothing Louis would love more than meeting that woman with Harry by his side, ready to calm him down if he were to get in distress, which he probably would.

"I haven't talked to her yet, I was sent her information to my email. I don't even know if I'll get to talk to her today," Louis confessed, turning his face towards the alpha and letting his musky scent calm him, relax him further. "Besides, someone has to stay with Eve," Louis said, placing his hands on top of Harry's, which were resting atop the omega's empty womb.

"I don't like the idea of letting you go alone," Harry planted a kiss on the tip of the omega's nose.

"I know you don't but I don't want you to leave Eve, she's still recovering," Louis added, briefly separating from Harry to turn around and face him. He lovingly pushed a curl out of the alpha's face as he looked into his eyes.

"So are you," Harry said back, placing his hands on the small of Louis' back.

"But I'm an adult, she's a child. I'll be fine, I promise," he said finally, planting a sweet and chaste kiss to the alpha's lips before stepping out of their bubble, making his way towards the kitchen. "What are we going to have for breakfast?" Louis asked with a smile, professionally ignoring the conversation they had had just a mere seconds before.

"Uh," Harry had been left with things to say still but he respected that Louis didn't seem to want to talk about it anymore, so he ignored the thought inside his mind and followed the omega into the kitchen. He opened a cabinet right beside the refrigerator and took out a box of pancake mix. "Blueberry pancakes?" He asked, holding the mix and opening the refrigerator to pull out a box with blueberries. "They're Eve's favourite,"

"Sure," Louis said with a smile, jumping up carefully and sitting on top of the kitchen island. He reached over for the coffee pot, which was one of those you put a capsule in and it makes whatever beverage you want. He took the tower of capsules held in a steel holder and turned it around, trying to choose which one he'd take. "Which one do you want?" He asked the alpha, still trying to decide which one he wanted for himself.

"Macchiato, please," Harry said, fetching a bowl from one of the upper cabinets to get started on the pancake mix. He handed the omega two white cups before starting to mix ingredients into the bowl.

"'Kay," and Louis just picked the capsule and put it in the machine, waiting patiently for it to be done. As he did so he picked up his phone from his pocket, opening up his email and checking if that woman Alisha had sent him the information he so much needed. He breathed out in relief when he saw an email sent from the Allyn Williams venue in his inbox. He was quick to open it up and copy the phone number written in there to his contacts, debating internally if he should call or not. 

On one side he was dying to know the truth. Newborns aren't able to walk themselves away right after birth so someone did take her, but who? He needed to know who would do this to him, yet on one other side, he wanted to leave the subject aside. He had got his daughter back and even if he had just found out that Eve was his, he had had her throughout all her life. He had breastfed her once, seen her grow before his own eyes and he really couldn't be more thankful for that. Luckily for him, the alpha had seen him debating himself internally, just as he was cracking the eggs for the pancakes.

"Everything okay, love?" he asked Louis sweetly, whisking the pancake mix and looking at the omega with soft eyes.

"I... I just don't know if I should call, that's all," he confessed, dangling his feet over the edge of the marble kitchen island. 

"Why are you having doubts?" he asked him as he moved through his kitchen, picking up a pan to start cooking their breakfast. 

"I dunno, it's just... I found her, y' know? And it's not like I lost five years from her life because I was her doctor all along, I saw her grow up. Hell, I even breastfed her once," it was clear Louis was frustrated. "I don't know if I should waste my energy in putting the blame on someone,"

"Wanna know how I'd see it?" Louis nodded at that, hearing the coffee pot go off and handing the coffee to the alpha. "You did see her grow up but I think you did lose five years of her life as well. You were there but you also weren't in the place you should have been. Besides, we only started talking and being friends what? Two or three years ago?" Harry did have a point there. Louis wasn't there when Eve said her first word or when she took her first steps, or for her first Christmas. Those were memories only Harry had because he had been the one to be there, not him, and someone had stripped him off of the chance of ever witnessing that. And he had the chance to find out who had done it. 

"You think I should go through with this, don't you?" Louis said, picking a random coffee capsule for himself and putting it in the machine. 

"You won't get those five years back, regardless of what you do," and shit, it would be such a nice morning if they weren't talking about this. Louis really enjoyed the smell of coffee mixed with the sounds the pan was making as Harry dripped the mix onto it. "But if it eases your mind I think you should," 

"You're right. Back at the hospital, I was only seeing red, I wanted to destroy them, whomever they were. Now I know what I want to do. Kind of. I want to find them, confront them and let them know that it was fruitless, that's what I want to do," Harry smiled sweetly at him and Louis swore he had never been gladder to have him in his life. Such a sweet alpha he had got himself. "I'm going to call her," he stated and with all the determination in the world he picked up his phone, pressing the dial button right beside the contact name. 

The phone started ringing and it was then that Louis went back to questioning his decisions. Maybe it was too early and the woman wouldn't pick up. Maybe she had changed her number ever since she retired from Allyn Williams and all his efforts were being fruitless. Hell, maybe she would pick up and realise she wanted nothing to do with him or his story. Blame anxiety and being overdramatic, but after three tones the woman did pick up, confused as to why she was being called by an unknown number.

"Hello?" he heard her greet with uncertainty. "Who is this?"

"Hi," Louis managed to say, dangling his feet faster as he was pretty nervous. "I... I'm Louis Tomlinson, don't know if you remember me," he started, afraid any of his fears regarding talking to the woman would come true. At least she had picked up. 

"I think I do... where did we meet again?" she asked but Louis couldn't read her. He couldn't tell if she was happy or annoyed to be talking to him. 

"I... I don't know if you remember but I... I met you at a conference in Allyn Williams. I was... I was pregnant and you," he sighed deeply as the few memories he had of that night flooded his mind. Harry was looking at him with a sweet smile as he cooked the pancakes, ready to jump and comfort his omega whenever he needed it. "Delivered my baby, in the bathroom," he added, already fearing his tears would betray him.

"Oh god Louis!" she exclaimed with a change in her voice, obviously happy to be talking to him now that she knew who he was. "I'm so glad it's you, how have you been? How's your little girl?" And yeah, Louis didn't expect that to hurt as much as it did because his little girl wasn't his, she was Harry's. Harry gave him a tight smile, placing his left hand on the omega's thigh as he flipped the pancakes over.

"I... I'm good, thanks. I was hoping I could talk to you about... about that night. Do you think we can meet up for lunch today? It's on me," the omega offered, placing his free hand on top of Harry's and squeezing it lightly. 

"I'm afraid not, dear, I'm bed bound. Growing old definitely has its drawbacks," she said sweetly and laughed a little. In one way Louis liked the fact that he wouldn't have to leave the house because it meant he would have Harry to himself if he ever broke down during the conversation, which would probably happen. "But we can talk over the phone, I'm all ears," she was really cheerful and Louis didn't know if he should feel thankful for that or not.

"I... Yeah, that can be done, too," there was a brief silence on the line before the omega spoke again. "I... I was hoping you could," he sighed, knowing it'd be one difficult conversation. "Walk me... through what happened that night. I have PTSD and I don't actually remember much," he confessed, grabbing tighter onto Harry's hand. 

"Yeah, sure. What do you want to know?" Louis was really glad that the woman was sweet.

"Everything? To be honest, I barely remembered you were there,"

"Okay, love," 

And so she did. She told him about every single thing she remembered, all from her own perspective. How she found him as he was dealing with a contraction, how the other two girls in the bathroom helped him out of his trousers, how he ended up laying on the floor, over a towel and, purely driven by his inner omega he started pushing his daughter into the world. She told him how his little girl was coming with the cord wrapped around her neck and how loudly she cried when she was put on Louis' chest. She told him how she had a full head of dark hair and how when she stopped crying she opened a pair of round greyish eyes and looked right at the lights of the ceiling. She had to tell him how he passed out, too, how he almost bled out and had to be taken to the hospital as fast as possible. She also told him how rough it had been once the euphoria of the moment had died down and they had to clean up, how much him giving birth there had marked them. And of course, Louis had started crying right from the get-go, unable to keep it contained inside himself and crashing into his alpha's chest. He knew it would be difficult but he never expected it to be so heartbreaking, so tough, so emotional. So much that Michelle had started crying, too. He felt as if he had been there, and don't get him wrong, he had been, he just didn't remember, he wasn't able to put his finger on the details.

"Sweetheart," Michelle called after him when she was done telling the story, her voice filled with emotion almost as much as his own. "Everything turned out to be fine, there's no need to cry," the only thing managing to calm his sobs were the steady strokes of Harry's hand up and down his back. That, the rhythm of his heartbeat and his scent.

"No, it didn't," Louis managed to say, nuzzling further into Harry's embrace. "It didn't"

"Why would you say that?" Michelle asked him. "How come it didn't?"

"I...," Louis stuttered and it was in that moment when he knew he would never recover from the loss. He had thought his daughter was dead for five years, he had grieved her, cried her, missed her. He had had to undo the nursery he had set up, he had to crush his dreams, his expectations, all because someone thought he wasn't worthy of taking his baby home. He had been crushed, broken down to dust and he had attempted to build himself back up, glue his pieces together, but his attempt at recovery had begun breaking again.

"Is it something to do with your baby?" Louis nodded but he eventually realised Michelle wouldn't see him. So, breathing in deeply he started.

"I... Yes," he said, separating from his alpha to wipe his own tears before hugging him again. "I... I remember waking up at the hospital. It was two days after I gave birth," he was stuttering a lot, but he hoped Michelle would understand. "Apparently I had really bad tears and placenta accreta, and they almost lost me while trying to get it out. When I did wake up they... They told me my baby had had a cardiac arrest and passed away on the way to the hospital," he was sobbing again by the end of the sentence.

"Oh, sweetheart," Michelle said with emotion filling her sweet and deep voice.

"Sadly that's not the point. I... Ten days after all of this I met this alpha who... He had a newborn and he had brought her in for a consultation for a cold. And ever since then I've been the girl's doctor. I'm a paediatrician, y' know?" Michelle kept silent and waited intently, breathing calmly on the other side of the line. "She... She had to have liver transplantation recently and I offered to test if I was a match because I really cared about them, still do," Michelle's calm breathing hitched at the mention of the liver transplantation, connecting the dots efficiently.

"No..." She mumbled, coming to the realisation of what Louis wanted to say.

"Yes. Perfect match," Louis took a deep breath in and nuzzled further into the alpha's chest, seeking warmth. "I donated but didn't think much of it, maybe a coincidence. But then this friend of mine told me this crazy theory that said she could be mine. In the beginning, I thought it was impossible but in the end I... There were so many things that matched up. I confronted Harry, her father, about it and he told me how he had found her as a newborn in the middle of the woods,"

"I can't even begin to imagine how hard it must've been on you, sweetheart," Michelle said sweetly, clearly crying on the other side of the line.

"We did the DNA. It came back fully positive," Louis ignored Michelle's words of compassion. "It was so hard... It's been so hard... But I'm pulling through. Harry is really supportive and in between all of that we even managed to fall in love," he added, sounding slightly more sure of himself and smiling a little when Harry nudged him on the hip. "I need to know what happened that night to finally be happy, I need to know who took her away from me,"

"Of course you do, honey, but I don't know how to help you," Michelle said with a sympathetical tone and Louis supposed she was wearing a small and tight smile. "What do you need?"

"I need you to tell me every single detail you remember, everything. Do you know if anyone there would take her away or something?" Louis asked, completely clueless as to where he should begin or why someone there would take his baby away.

"None of the girls would but... I do remember Beatrice had taken the baby to the ambulance before the paramedics arrived. Maybe you can talk to her?" Michelle suggested and Louis' eyes lit up.

"Yes! Yes, yes, that can be really helpful, thank you," Louis knew Michelle had skipped something while telling him about his birth. He just knew there was something more to it. "You don't know how grateful I am,"

"It was nothing, sweetie. I'll text you Beatrice's phone number and you can call her, 'kay?" Michelle said sweetly and Louis pictured her smiling. "And tell me how it goes, please. I can't believe you had to go through this. Why didn't you call before, huh?"

"I just... I never felt sure enough to do it, you know? I never felt ready, not until now,"

"I'm glad I could help, Louis. I hope everything turns out to be fine for you three," and Louis smiled genuinely at that. He couldn't be more grateful that such a nice woman had been the one to help his daughter into the world. 

"Thank you so much, Michelle. I really appreciate your help,"

"It's nothing, sweetie. Feel free to call whenever you want," And with that and a couple more goodbyes, Louis ended the phonecall, feeling his chest heavy after such an emotional conversation. Talking to Michelle had made everything just a bit more real to him, the idea of getting closer to finding out who had torn him apart from his baby.

"You okay?" Louis heard from above him, just as the strokes down his back picked up a pace once again.

"As okay as I can be, I guess," Louis answered, leaving his phone on the counter and hugging his alpha tightly.

"We'll be fine, we'll be alright," Harry's sweet voice said before they found themselves wrapped up in each other in complete silence. A comfortable silence that managed to say more than a thousand words, words of support, of companionship, of love.

"Thank you," and even if the silence they were in managed to express gratitude, Louis found it necessary to say it out loud, he needed Harry to hear him.

"It's okay, baby," Harry said before Louis took a deep breath in and pulled away, memorizing in his head the scent of his alpha. "You're welcome," and Louis smiled because those were the two words he needed to hear. He smiled at the taller man and went back to sitting on the kitchen island, wiping the remaining of the tears he had shed earlier with the back of his hand as Harry smiled at him.

They stayed in the kitchen like that, in plain silence, contemplating everything that had happened in the last hour and trying to find a way to face it. Michelle had held her end of the bargain and sent Louis the contact information of Beatrice which he thanked with a profuse line of emojis. He needed to start feeling better emotionally, he needed to deal with what had happened from a positive perspective, or as positive as it could be given the situation. He was worried he'd never know how to feel about it.

He took a look at the side profile of his soon to be alpha, just for a change and to avoid thinking about his and Eve's matters. That was when he found the alpha looking quite torn. He didn't look his usual self, instead, he looked troubled, as if his mind were a battlefield.

"I got an email," he heard Harry say just as the alpha was flipping his last pancake. It had been rushed as if he didn't actually want to say it.

"What about?" He could tell Harry was tense, as if he hadn't got good news on that email. "Does it have anything to do with Eve?" Louis added, trying to pin it together to their current issue.

"Nope," and Harry was still fighting something, Louis could tell. The alpha had been really touched by that email, otherwise, he wouldn't be holding back so much. Louis knew that Harry was one to keep to himself, he didn't enjoy much revealing personal stuff, but being Harry's boyfriend perhaps meant that he would at least try to open up more to him. "Uhm... I...," he stuttered and it was then when Louis saw the distress in his eyes.

"You can tell me, Haz, I won't judge. Maybe you'll feel better afterwards," Harry took a deep breath in and Louis just knew he would tell him.

"It's... It's from an association that," he sighed as if he were physically restrained from saying it. "They bring together birth parents a-and biological children," Louis' breath caught in his throat. By the little information he had on Harry's childhood he knew he didn't actually like the idea of his biological parents. He had told him so on their date.

"Uh, babe, what are you gonna do about it?" Louis said as sweetly as he could, locking the back of his right foot behind Harry's left calf and pulling him close, noting the distress in his face; the scowl making him look a little older.

"Dunno," Harry mumbled, placing his hands at the sides of Louis' face and playing with the locks of hair that were long enough to be pulled behind his ears. "I just got it this morning,"

"How do you feel about it," Louis asked him, looking up into his big and green eyes and letting him ground himself in his body.

"I... I've always despised them, I... They left me, they have no right," Louis could see Harry was trying not to cry, forcing himself jot to feel anything towards the matter. Yet they both knew it was rather impossible.

"Do you know which one of them is trying to reach out?" The omega thought that maybe if he was the one to keep asking the questions it'd be easier for Harry to come to terms with what he was feeling.

"My mum," and he said it with such a disgusted tone on his voice. He truly despised her. "Think she's a little bit late, twenty-eight years late,"

"Look, baby, I'm not gonna push you to do anything you don't want but... Do you know why she left you? Has anyone ever told you why?" Harry shook his head, looking down and playing anxiously with the omega's nape hairs. "Don't you wanna know?"

"I don't know," the alpha said simply, looking into the omega's eyes and trying to keep the tears from spilling. He was really overwhelmed. "They sent a PDF file with some information about her and her family but I haven't opened it yet, don't know if I ever will,"

"Would it help you if I told you what I'd do?" Harry gave the omega a small nod and took a deep breath in. He always knew he hated his biological parents for putting him up for adoption but he never questioned their reasons. He never wondered _why_ they did it. He could find out if he wanted, but he also didn't know if he did. Ever since that same morning where he woke up alone because Louis was already up, to the notification of a new email in his inbox, ever since then he had been fighting his emotions. "I would want you to be by my side and together open up that file. I'd try to find a logical way to explain why everything happened and then if I felt comfortable enough, I'd consider meeting up with her," Louis said simply, stroking the cheek of his alpha with his thumb and looking into his eyes. The omega could easily see Harry was clueless and hurting, he was like an open book.

"You'd do that?" Louis nodded, keeping up with the stokes on the alpha's cheek and trying to get him to relax. He could easily see him shifting into his wolf and running away at any minute. "Why?" And that last question sounded so pained that Louis wished he never heard it.

"Because...," the omega took a deep breath in. "Because I believe that everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt, just a teeny tiny bit,"

"B-but... They left me. They abandoned me, h-how c-can I give them the benefit of the doubt?" The alpha was so angry that he was fighting tears, unable to believe that Louis could conceal such a big amount of forgiveness within him. "They didn't care!"

"You don't know that," Louis opted to keep his voice calm as he saw the alpha break apart. It wasn't the first time he saw him in a breakdown, but it was the first time he could do something about it as family, as someone who he loved. "Fate works in mysterious ways, what if putting you up for adoption saved you from an even worse childhood than the one you had?"

"I somehow doubt that," and there they were, the sarcasm and its partner, the irony, making their way through Harry's speech as a way for him to channel his anger.

"Once again, baby, you don't know that," Louis said as softly as he could. Truth to be told, Harry's stubbornness was getting on his nerves, too. The only thing keeping him from exploding and yelling much like the alpha was about to do was the thought that he loved him, the idea that he was the one to ground him. "What if she's had it worse than you? What if she's been through her own hell?"

"What if she's just a selfish bitch? She chose her future over mine, I won't let her mess with me!"

"If she had done that then she wouldn't be reaching out to meet you,"

And to that, Harry was unable to respond so he remained quiet, looking down to the floor as all the memories and things he went through in the orphanage flooded his mind. From the moment he met Niall, to when was five years old and he found the broken violin that made him who he was today to the day they had to let him go. Barely seven years ago, the orphanage's director had handed him a used up blanket he hadn't seen ever since he was six or seven years old at the very least. It was so old that the blue colour it once held had faded to a grey, which was what made the tiny white newborn hat on top of it look so clean and unpolluted, even after twenty-one years. Those were the things he was left with back when he was just a tiny newborn, the only things he ever had from the people who brought him into the world. That and an old envelope which he presumed contained a letter or something which he never dared to open, afraid of what it would say.

"Baby?" Louis brought him back to his kitchen and the year 2016 with a soft nudge of his knuckle against the alpha's cheek.

"You're right," he said, giving up on his fight and pulling away slightly, not enough for him to stop feeling Louis' body heat.

"Am I?" Harry nodded.

"W-when I left the orphanage I... I was given the things I came with," he started, unable to look into Louis' eyes as he tried to remember where it was in his house that he had left them. "An old blanket, a cloth hat and... There was a letter," he stayed silent for a couple of seconds, trying to remember where he had put it. "I never read it, I... I hated them so much... I hate them so much,"

"What do you say we look for those things and open up the email, okay? If you ever feel like it's too much we can leave it aside and never touch it again if you wish," Harry sighed deeply, finally deciding on doing as Louis said. If it had been on him he would have never reached out for his biological parents but now that his mother had... It had to have been for a reason so he'd give her the benefit of the doubt. 

And so they did. They went to the master bedroom and grabbed the really old and used blanket, the hat and the letter, which was taking on a yellowish colour as time went by. It had been almost thirty years since that paper was written, almost thirty years where Harry felt like he didn't belong, where he felt like he had been abandoned, where he felt like he actually had to fight for his survival. He had become so independent, so resourceful, so brave even, but at the same time he became the man he was, he also became insecure, deprived, and when it came to relationships he had always been awkward. Even if orphanages tried their best not to leave their children unattended, it was only logical that they'd be unable to fulfil every child's needs, and generally, affection was the one that children lacked the most. There just wasn't enough time. Harry was really hoping that whatever reason his mother had to give him up would justify everything he didn't get to leave because of it. So, when they opened that letter, careful not to tear the old paper apart, Harry was able to finally give meaning to his childhood.

—·—·—·—

_January 25th, 1988_

_Hi Harry, if that's what your name is. I hope it is. Mum here. I hope you never have to read this, that a couple of days from now I can just throw this letter away because you won't need to read it, but I know that won't happen._ _Truth to be told, I'm terrified. I'm scared of how much I love you, I'm scared of what's gonna happen to us, I'm scared of having to let you out of my body, to birth you. Right now you're safe, kicking away inside my belly but I know it won't be long until you're out and have to face this god-awful world we live in._

_I have so much to thank you for and I don't even know you, I don't even know how your face looks like. You saved me in so many ways already, from destruction, from my own mind, from him, even. I hate that you will be leaving me, be it a couple of days from now or eventually. Hope it's eventually but again if you're reading this, it means it wasn't. I'm so sorry, baby, that I wasn't able to stand up for myself, that I wasn't strong enough to fight for us. They still see me as a child, as a nobody and they kind of are right, I'm only fourteen after all._

_I won't tell you about my life, I won't tell you how you became you, at least not in this letter. Sorry but I don't think I'm able to write it down, to let the words and feelings out of my brain. As horrible as they are, they are the only things that are mine_ _—that and you, for now—._ _I can hold on to them, and even if I were able to write them, I don't think people would believe me, so why should you?_

_I don't know how old you'll be when you read this, I don't know if you ever will but I really hope you do. Hell, I don't even know what your name will be. I hope you don't hate me. I hope life doesn't break you as it did me, but I know hope can only do so much._ _I want you to know that the love I have for you knows no limits, no boundaries. I love you so much it physically hurts, right here in my chest. I hope the idea of me you grow up with isn't the worst because I will always, always remember you dearly, with all the love and longing a mother can feel and I hope we can meet again someday. You deserve the world, my precious baby, and I'm so sad I'm not allowed to even try to give it to you, so believe me that if I could, I would do it without hesitation._

_I hope you find a family that loves you just half of how much I love you, and you will be the luckiest child on earth. I hope you grow up to be the cheeky little soul I imagine you to be and I hope that, when the time comes, you'll allow me back into your life. I don't know when that'll be, I don't know if it'll even happen but believe me when I tell you that I'd be the happiest if it did. I will reach out to you, someday, when you're older, and if you still have a little space in your heart for me as you do now, I shall be delighted to fill it up._

_I love you, my precious baby, to the moon and back and I'm so deeply sorry._

_With all my love, Anne, your mum._

_—·—·—·—_

They broke down crying on the bed way before finishing the letter, having to reread some lines because the tears made their vision fuzzy. Harry broke down even more so when he noticed the tiny, round marks at the bottom of the paper where the tears his mother had shed for him had laid and dried all those years ago, longing for him, longing for her baby.

"Oh, Haz," Louis said in between tears, pulling the alpha tighter to his chest as he cried, full-on sobbing, regretting all the feelings he ever had towards his mum. He wished he never hated her, he wished he never felt such awful things towards her.

"I hated her for so long, Lou," he mumbled, choking on his own tears. His chest felt heavy. "I felt such awful things towards her and... She was a kid, how could I hate a kid?"

"It's okay, baby, you didn't know what she'd been through, we still don't," Louis carefully petted Harry's hair, trying to comfort him physically.

"She was fourteen years old when she had me, she was a child. I wish I had known," he felt such regret, he was angry at himself that he didn't think about how she could have felt before, angry at himself that up until then he didn't care. "I could have if only I hadn't been the selfish bastard I am," Harry had spoken with such self-hatred in his voice that it left Louis speechless for a mere second.

"Stop it right there, you're not any bastard," Louis was quick to say, soothing the alpha with his words, or at least attempting to. "You are the most gorgeous, heartfelt and sympathetic person I have ever crossed paths with. Your heart is pure gold, Harry. You can't blame yourself for this, you have to be thankful that we read that letter today and that from now on what you feel towards your mother has changed. There's a reason things happened this way,"

"I can't help it," the taller man said as he nuzzled further into the comfortable heat of Louis' chest. "I could have done something earlier if only I had gotten my head out of my arse and read the damn letter when it was handed to me,"

"Done what? You wouldn't have been able to reach Anne, she had to look for you," the alpha grunted a bit.

"Yes, but at least I wouldn't have spent seven years of my life hating on her when she had done nothing wrong," Harry couldn't help but feel like the worst being on earth, like the worst scum. "I hope she still loves me, that she hasn't forgotten me,"

"I'm positive she does still love you and in no possible way or scenario would she ever forget you," Louis planted a kiss on the top of his head as he cradled his fingers through the alpha's long curls. 'You're her son, you marked her," 

"Daddy?" the tiniest of voices broke their moment apart, just as the body of a little girl made its way up their bed and suited itself right in between the adults' lower extremities. 

"Hi, Monkey," Harry did a quick work of drying the remanents of the tears he had shed and was quick to pay attention to his daughter. "What's wrong?" He could tell she was barely awake. 

"Are you sad?" she asked sweetly, reaching with her tiny hand to caress her father's cheek. She looked worried. 

"I am, just a little," Louis watched them with a tight and tiny smile on his lips, loving how their little girl was always so aware of those around her. She seemed worried about her father. "A teeny tiny bit,"

"What happened?" her voice was sweet as she situated herself on Harry's lap, hugging him tightly. 

"I just... I found out that a person I was really mad at had actually done nothing wrong," he held his daughter tightly to his chest.

"But isn't that good? It means you don't have to be mad at them anymore, why are you sad, then?" she said matter-of-factly, cuddling further into her father's firm embrace. 

"I'm sad because it means I've been unfair to them for a long, long time, and that isn't the man I want to be," Louis lightly stroked his right cheek with his index and middle fingers with the arm that was draped behind Harry's shoulders, sitting behind them both as he was formerly cuddling his boyfriend. 

"But it's easy, you can just apologize," Harry really did love children's logic.

"Yeah, Monkey, you're right,"

They stayed like that for what felt like hours, drifting off again in the most comfortable way possible: cuddling with each other. Their breakfast had been long forgotten as they slept their problems away, knowing for a fact that it wasn't all lost, they still had hope. It was right before Harry closed his eyes that he told himself he'd do even the impossible to get to know his mother and family because everything he had felt up until then had been just pure empty anger, and she at least, didn't deserve that. 

_-_  
_Word count: 7385_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, me again!
> 
> Leave kudos and comments please, you have no idea how much it motivates me to keep writing. 
> 
> Again, call me out if I fuck up or smt with grammar and stuff.
> 
> All the love. M.


	26. Chapter XXIV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... Hi, long time no see. 
> 
> I've sadly reached a point I really didn't want to reach with this fic: having no inspiration whatsoever to keep writing it. I've actually finished this chapter right before the last update I did. I always used to go one chapter ahead from you, so when I finished the 24th, I'd upload the 23rd. 
> 
> This is the last chapter I have written, and probably the last one you'll see for a while. I actually have this fic completely planned out, it'll be around 50ish chapters, long but I just... I can't find it in myself to keep writing something without any inspiration, it'd be like scamming you all. 
> 
> I've been writing this for almost three years, and although I still believe in Larry Stylinson with all my heart it just... Doesn't make me as happy as it used to. I've found new ships (Deckerstar, ehem ehem) that make me feel like Larry used to, and I've grown up, too. I just started university...
> 
> I hope you can understand and know that for sure, I will finish this thing. It's my baby, I love it with all my heart, only that I just won't finish it now. Let's say I'm putting it on hold. 
> 
> Thank you so much for all your kind comments and kudos, you make me the happiest girl in the world. 
> 
> And just so you know, on my pseud CrimeSolvingDevil I have a deckerstar fic (from the show Lucifer) which I'm currently writing and uploading quite frequently so if you love the muffins just as much as I do, you should definitely go take a look at it. Of course, it has children in the middle because I cannot write anything without children in the middle. 
> 
> Without further adieu, I'll leave you to this chapter which basically gives a little bit of closure to the Anne-Harry situation. 
> 
> Remember to stay in and wash your hands, COVID-19 is not playing. 
> 
> All my love, M.

Harry had to be sat down in a booth at a coffee shop in the middle of the city centre to finally realise he was anxious as hell. His palms had been hot and sweaty since at least ten in the morning. He had been all over the place, all day, which had been rather unpleasant, to say the least. Luckily Louis understood him and tried to calm him down, but neither scenting him or having sex was enough to ease Harry's nerves. He was meeting his mother that day, it was really happening. He was going to meet the woman responsible for his existence, the one that had brought him into the world and the one that, for that to happen, had to endure one of the worst things to ever happen. At least that was his guess, he didn't think a fourteen-year-old would go on and about getting herself pregnant on purpose. He hoped so, at least. He wanted to know what had happened to her, he wanted to meet her but he was also scared out of his mind. That was why it was five o'clock in the afternoon and he was still looking up excuses for how he felt.

He wasn't regretting his decision of meeting up with his mother, he really wasn't, it was just... He had to leave Eve with Louis and he would take her to the cinema, and it was the first time that they went somewhere to do something on their own... and he totally wasn't worried about that. He was just being a cry baby and trying to avoid dealing with his present. He wanted to meet his mother, he really did. The only thing was: he didn't want to feel like he was feeling because of it. He couldn't even stand himself of how restless he was.

He had found out about Anne barely a week ago, and it had taken him quite some time to get around answering the email. He just felt a heap of unpleasant emotions bubbling up at the pit of his stomach, which he had a hard time dealing with. He had always put the blame for his rather awful childhood and all his issues growing up on his mother, he had always felt like she deserved such awful emotions and that much hatred for giving him away. Overall, having someone to blame always made everything easier, no only in that aspect of life but in everyone. Now that he knew his mother wasn't the one to blame he didn't know where to put such strong, negative emotions, and it was driving him insane. Somebody had to be responsible for all his suffering, he needed to find whomever they were. He knew it was childish to want to find somebody and place all of his hate on them but to be honest, it was what he needed the most.

It was after he convinced himself that he had to deal with his problems like the grown man he was that he finally answered the email and therefore, got Anne's contact information. It took him a whole another day to send her a text to arrange a meeting. He was afraid that somehow she would hate _him_ after all the years of pure hatred towards the idea of her. He felt so deeply sorry for that. If he had known everything that she had gone through he would have thought twice before deciding on hating her with everything he was. 

The worst moment, though, about the whole 'getting in touch with his mother' was when he actually had to give her a physical description of himself given the fact that she didn't actually know how he looked like, therefore she wouldn't be able to spot him. If that felt wrong to himself, he didn't even want to think of how Anne must have felt. He told her over text the basics, how his hair, eyes and complexion were, and to make her job of spotting him easier he had left his hair loose, untied, so she'd see the curls that maybe, only maybe, she had passed on to him.

He wanted Louis to be there with him, to be the one holding his hand, to calm him down now that he felt anxious. He wanted him to run his fingers up and down the back of his hand and talk him down, telling him everything was going to be just fine. He had done so before Harry left, pampering him full of kisses and reassuring words, all under the promise of 'I love you', but he still needed him there. He had offered to look after Eve and when he heard her talk about wanting to go see a film, he was unable to say no, so he took her to the cinema while Harry met up with his mother. Luckily they weren't bonded just yet or Louis would physically feel how anxious and nervous Harry was in that moment. It'd be such a buzz killer for him and Eve.

It was when he felt a tentative and really soft hand on his shoulder that his anxiousness spiked the highest as a rush of the most unknown, raw emotions made its way through his spine, almost making him shiver. Of course, he was expecting her but it just... He wasn't expecting her to touch him instead of calling his name.

"Harry?" A woman's voice spoke from behind him, all sweet and soft and motherly even.

When he turned around and saw the beautiful woman, owner of such voice, he finally felt some peace. He saw his own eyes in hers, only that her's were slightly more freckled with brown. He saw the shape of his own mouth on hers, he found that his way to look at people had been hers first. He couldn't deny that it was her, finally there in front of him, the woman he had hated for most of his life and now didn't know how to feel about, the woman who had brought him into this world. He couldn't say anything, he couldn't move, he couldn't even breathe of the shock and whirlwind of emotions that was set in his stomach. The only thing he could do was look at her in the eyes and hope that everything would be okay, just that. 

"Oh my god," she said breathlessly, smiling widely as her freckled green eyes filled up with tears. "You're here," she was just as clueless as Harry, not knowing what to do, or how to react. "I want to hug you so bad," she said, having trouble to keep their nervous hands from reaching out to touch her son. 

"I..." Harry stuttered, not knowing what to do regarding that. He didn't know if he was ready to hug her, to feel that kind of connection with her, but he did know that she seemed to need it, she had been longing for it for twenty-eight years. He could try and be a little less selfish, couldn't he?

And so he did. Without telling her or anything he just stood up and wrapped his long arms around her, taking in her scent. She was undoubtedly mated, he could tell by the mark she bore on her neck and how she smelled of an alpha who wasn't him. She smelled like wildflowers and mountain air with a musky undertone that most likely wasn't hers, and her skin felt incredibly soft. He could tell she was really pale and had a lot of moles, just like he did. It was odd, so foreign, so new and yet so comfortable. Harry never thought he'd ever feel safe in his parent's arms, ever since he was just a little kid, he thought he didn't have it him to feel that way, to ever have that connection. Now, after twenty-eight years of pure hatred towards the woman in his arms, the only thing that could make him feel safer than her hug was hugging Louis.

"I can't believe I have you back in my arms," she mumbled; voice muffled by Harry's shoulder since she was significantly shorter than the alpha. Harry could tell she was crying and it only made him want to cry even more.

"Hi..." Was the only thing that came out of his mouth once they pulled away, looking into his mother's eyes from above and seeing himself reflected in her glossy, soon-to-be-shed tears. He pulled her in for a hug again, breathing in her scent and letting a few tears run down his cheeks.

They stayed like that for a while, taking in the feel of the other. From a biological perspective, they felt as if their bodies had been longing for that hug for so long, even if Harry had just found that out. He was starting to feel finally whole, complete. Right at that moment, the twenty-eight years he spent alone seemed like nothing, even worse, he felt like she had never given him away. It was as if he physically knew her. He really didn't know how he felt about that, but at that moment he didn't mind. All he could focus on was how her mother's body felt against his for the first time in so long. 

"I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry," Anne said, burying her face further into the crook of Harry's shoulder and crying bittersweet tears. She was so happy she finally had her baby boy in her arms and yet she felt so bad for him, for everything he must have gone through. She wanted to hug away his suffering like she never got the chance to.

"It's okay, you don't get to feel sorry, you did everything you could," Harry tried to shush her as he cried himself, facing again all the self-hatred he had for never giving his mum the benefit of the doubt. He wasn't even sure that was the truth, and yet his instinct was telling him so.

"I never stopped thinking about you, I never forgot one single birthday, I always prayed that you'd want to meet me once you were older," she pulled away slightly and softly caressed Harry's cheek, afraid he would pull away. "I really can't believe you agreed to meet me," the disbelief was clear in her voice.

"I am the one that has to apologize," Harry started, looking down and pulling away completely, letting his hands fall against his sides and sitting down again on the booth. His body felt different now that he had hugged her, now that for the first time he had felt a resemblance of what love between children and parents felt like. He didn't know how to feel, he didn't know what to do, what to say. So he started with an apology first, for all the hate he directed towards her in his years of life.

"No, no you don't," Anne was quick to say, grabbing Harry's hand over the table.

"Yes, I do, I... I need to say this. Ever since I found out about you I've been unable to think of anything else," He started, breathing in deeply before continuing. "I'm sorry because... Ever since I can remember I hated you. I felt... I felt such awful emotions and feelings towards you and I never even thought of giving you a chance. It never went through my mind,"

"It's okay, Harry, you had every right," Anne tried to say but Harry quickly interrupted her.

"No, I didn't. I've had your letter in my possession for seven years and... If only I had been able to get my head out of my arse and read it... Maybe we could have met sooner," he felt so remorseful.

"You had every right to feel that way, I can only be glad you don't anymore. You were left in an orphanage, Harry, it's okay if your birth parents aren't the people you're most fond of," Harry loved that Anne was so understanding of him. "I can only be thankful for being here, right now,"

"To be honest, I was afraid _you'd_ hate me after I told you how I felt about you well... All my life,"

"Why would you even think that?" Anne was in pure disbelief, holding on tighter to Harry's hand. "Harry, I am..." She stopped herself from saying what she wanted to say. _I am your mother_ , were the words that got stuck in her throat. She was, but she also didn't really know him. "I would never, ever, hate you," Harry smiled softly.

"You really don't?" Harry was so sure she'd hate him that he didn't even think about what would happen if she didn't.

"For starters, I'm glad you don't hate _me..._ Well, at least I hope you don't anymore," Harry shook his head and smiled softly, glad that Anne was such an easy woman to talk to. "Believe me that if I had been able to keep you and... And fight for you, I would have. I am immensely happy that we have this moment right here, right now, though,"

"You have my boyfriend to thank for that," Harry said, smiling again as he pictured his omegas at the cinema, watching a film, eating popcorn and enjoying themselves. He really missed them and he really wished Louis was here with him but he also kind of didn't. For starters, the omega would feel really awkward and even if he didn't, Harry kind of wanted to keep that moment for himself and Anne only.

"You have a boyfriend?" Anne said, trying to leave the teary eyes and the creaky voice aside.

"I do, he... He's wonderful, one of the best things that have ever happened to me," Anne could tell Harry really meant that. "He was the one that convinced me to read your letter and then your email. We're here because of him,"

"I am so glad you have someone that you talk about and you face lits up," Harry smiled shyly and dumbly. "Look at you, all in love. He sounds pretty amazing. Is he handsome?" Suddenly, the whole atmosphere changed and everything felt much more comfortable. Anne seemed to be the loveliest woman and Harry was really glad that she was the one to bring him into the world, even if he could see it just now.

"He is, he is, really handsome but overall he's... He's the sweetest omega ever," he was smiling fondly at the mere idea of his beautiful omega. "I can't even remember what my life was like before I met him,"

"I... I'd love to meet him one day, he sounds lovely. What... What do your parents think about him? About this?" She asked, turning her voice down to a more serious tone. Harry felt confused for a small while until he remembered that Anne didn't know a thing about his life and therefore, she didn't know about his past.

"I... I was actually never adopted," the surprise on Anne's face was easy to note.

"What?" She asked, completely in disbelief that such a thing would happen.

"I guess no one liked me," he tried to say it humorously but it came out more as resentful. "I stayed at that orphanage until I turned twenty-one, then... Then I moved in with my girlfriend at the time," he really didn't think that the memory of Isabella would still make his heart clench inside his chest, but it did and he suddenly missed her. Not as someone whom he loved romantically but as the friend she once had been. He had been the closest to her, even more than Niall.

"I'm so sorry, Harry. I... I don't understand why anyone wouldn't like to adopt you," she truly felt sorry that Harry had grown up without parents.

"Don't be. I met truly amazing people there, for instance, that girlfriend I had and Niall, my best friend," Harry smiled as all the memories he had from his younger years flashed through his mind. "The three of us were inseparable, even after they were adopted we'd still hang out with each other, that was truly wonderful," Anne smiled melancholically at that, stroking Harry's knuckles with her thumb. "I became the man I am thanks to that place,"

"You don't wish you had been adopted?" Anne asked him without breaking eye contact. She seemed to be very upfront, strong woman.

"I... I won't lie, I would have loved it if it had happened but I'm also not mad that it didn't,"

"It's awesome that you think like that," Anne smiled sweetly, still not believing that she was right there, in front of his long lost baby boy. "So... I wanna know more things about you. What do you do for a living? Of course, you don't have to answer anything that you don't want, I just... I'm so glad I have you here right now and I really want to get to know you and I know I'm rambling and please just stop me," Harry chuckled lightly at that.

"I ramble a lot, too," He said simply, smiling down at the omega. "I play the cello for the LSO, head of strings," Anne put on a bright smile when she heard that, but she suddenly erased it.

"Oh god..." She mumbled, being extremely surprised that Harry would choose such a career path.

"Why? You don't like classical music?" Harry said lightly, still amused by their conversation. Anne was a really likeable person.

"I... It probably doesn't mean anything but... When I was younger I used to play the violin, it just... For a brief second, it went through my mind that you had chosen that career path because I somehow influenced it," and yeah, she was really straightforward. It kind of reminded him of Louis.

"Maybe it is, I don't know. I just... I found an old violin in the attic of the orphanage when I was four or five years old, don't remember exactly, and I just was drawn to it. Thanks to sponsors and donations from wealthy people, that orphanage grants their children one wish or thing they want while they're there and I just asked to get violin lessons. It escalated from there and here I am, I guess," Anne smiled sweetly at that, thinking that maybe she wasn't so wrong about passing on to Harry the taste for stings and classical music. "Besides, I know a case of that happening, of parents passing on to their children their taste for music. My daughter's mum used to play the piano a lot while he was pregnant and now she just loves it. She has a natural talent for it," he suddenly forgot who he was talking to. He was talking to a woman that although she was his mother, she was a complete stranger. And he just so casually happened to mention his own daughter whom Anne had no idea that she existed, and he was talking to her as if he had known them for years when he hadn't. Of course, when he realized all of this, Anne had already asked about it.

"You have a daughter?" She said calmly but happily surprised, glad to know that his beautiful boy had built a life outside from his own disgraces.

"I... I do, her name's Eve, she's five," he said simply, suddenly shy. He felt weird that he had known Anne for less than an hour and yet he felt so comfortable around her, so at ease. He felt like he could tell her everything. "She's... She's something else,"

"I'm sure she's wonderful," Anne said, wanting to say and ask so much more but controlling herself. She reckoned it would be weird, or far too much to ask him to meet her. "What about her mum? Are you... I don't know, separated from him?" Sue her, she wanted to know about the life of his baby boy and her granddaughter.

"Actually, I'm not. My boyfriend, Louis, is her mother but it's just... A _really_ long and complicated story," Harry said simply, playing with a ring on his finger.

"Well, you're lucky I don't have anywhere else to be so if you want to tell me, I shall listen," Harry smiled at that, feeling how he was growing fonder and fonder of Anne by the minute.

"I'm gonna try to make this as quick and easy to understand as I can, okay? I don't promise anything," Harry chuckled slightly. "I kind of adopted her when she was a baby. The night I found her... Well, it hadn't been the best night of my life per se. My girlfriend, remember the one I had moved in with?" Anne nodded at that but remained silent. "She... Well, she was pregnant with a baby boy of our own but... They both passed away during delivery. It truly was the worst night of my life," Anne's expression turned into a sympathetical one but instead of saying anything, she let Harry continue. "I was so sad and angry at everything that I shifted into my wolf and ran into the woods, without a destination. I just wanted to stop feeling like shit. Well, that until I heard a baby cry and I found Eve wrapped in a bloody towel under a tree. I took her home, cleaned her and when I called 911 I told them it had been a twin delivery, so she's legally mine, although not biologically,"

"Oh wow, Harry, I would have never thought you went through something so horrible, you seem to be so upbeat," Anne said simply; her voice full of emotion as she picked up the strokes on Harry's knuckles.

"I kind of am but yeah, that night changed me. I closed myself up to any kind of love after it, I wasn't willing to try again, afraid that something like that would happen again. And ten days after I met Louis," he smiled at the memory, remembering how he looked so beautiful and pure with his scrubs and white coat, how he smelled. "He's a paediatrician and I had taken Eve in for a consult because she had caught a cold. She was so small when she was a baby..." Anne copied Harry's fond smile as he was reminiscing. "He's been her doctor ever since then, and she loves him so much. It truly is beautiful to see," Anne's smile widened as did Harry's. "Sadly, about nine months ago Eve was diagnosed with lupus and had to be admitted to the hospital because her kidneys were failing. She got over that pretty quickly and I think it was then when Louis and I started to become closer. Fast forward to a month and a half ago, Eve was admitted with liver failure to the hospital and she needed a transplant to survive," Anne's eyes widened, unable to believe that her little boy had to go through such horrible things during his twenty-eight years of life. "We had to so some compatibility tests and Louis offered to test himself. I told him not to but as usual, he didn't listen. We were sure he wouldn't be a match because they weren't relatives but when the results came in and they matched by, I think more than ninety-seven per cent, well, he went ahead with the surgery and donated her part of his liver. Then, well, because the match was so high Louis and a friend of his started to suspect and after a lot of talking and embarrassing crying we did a DNA. Turns out that Eve's is Louis' biological daughter, one he had thought had died when he gave birth to," Anne had her mouth widely opened in disbelief by now. "Then we got together and here we are. Eve still doesn't know that Louis is her mum and we're not planning on telling her anytime soon. We want to know what happened before we tell her and we also want her to be older. We're just enjoying her as much as we can,"

"I... I don't know what to say," Anne started, still putting the pieces together in her head. "That is really messed up,"

"I know," Harry smiled lightly. "But hey, at least I warned you that it was a very complicated story," Anne chuckled a little, still trying to assemble all the information in her brain.

"That, you did, Harry," Anne kept silent for a short while before speaking again. "Hey, do you think, I don't know, that I could meet her someday?" Harry smiled at that.

"Of course, Anne, you're really sweet, she would love you," Anne smiled brightly at that, looking up and thanking the gods above that her beautiful baby boy had turned up to be such a wonderful human being.

"You are such a wonderful, grown man, Harry. I can't believe that once upon a time you were just this tiny, little baby," she gesticulated with her hands as she talked. "You were so small when you were born, I... I truly can't believe that I was the one to bring such a wonderful person into this world," Harry blushed slightly.

"I'm flattered," Harry said jokingly but he knew that deep down, Anne was reminiscing about the few memories she had of him. "Did we... When I was born, were you allowed to be with me? To say goodbye?" He knew what he was getting himself into when he asked that, but he also wanted to know. He wanted to know where his roots were, who his mother was and what she'd gone through to bring him into the world. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, I just... Sorry, I'm just far too curious,"

"It's okay," she interrupted him. "I'll gladly tell you about it. About everything you wanna know," She was smiling but it was pretty obvious it wasn't as bright and genuine as all the previous ones. "I was able to be with you after you were born, yes. Three whole days. My parents had been the ones that forced me to give you up, I didn't want to. If it had been up to them you would've been gone as soon as you were born. I had to beg to them for each day we were together. I really treasure them and was quick to write down everything about them so I wouldn't forget," she smiled bittersweetly. "You were born on February 1st, 1988 and we left you at the orphanage on February 4th. It truly was the worst day of my life," Harry was starting to notice how some tears were forming on Anne's eyes, coating them up and threatening to make her cry. "That first year without you was the worst,"

"Anne, you were fourteen, you were a child. And even now you're so young. I... I know this can sound rude or distasteful but... What happened to you?" Harry asked her, switching the positions of their hands so his hand would be over hers. He tried to comfort her and give her the safest environment possible to talk about it. After all, she was a forty-two-year-old woman who was a grandmother already. Something really traumatic had to have happened to her.

"I... I can tell you, yes. You deserve to know but just... Please, be patient," and of course, like the gentleman he was, Harry nodded and allowed her to talk, to free her heart of the sorrow of the past and to let her tell him about his own past as well.

"Of course, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to," he added to his stance, circling his fingers over the freckled skin of the back of her hand. She breathed in deeply and started.

"When I was ten years old, a cousin of mine moved in with us. He was from Manchester and had come to London to study, he was eighteen at the time," Harry's breath hitched. "Well, he wasn't actually a cousin but our parents were really close friends so he might as well have been," Harry continued running his fingers up and down her hand, hoping that it would calm her like it did when Louis did it to him. "His name was Jeffrey. I... I don't remember exactly when it started, or if it was something that happened gradually but I... He..." She breathed in once again before speaking. "He abused me, sexually," Harry could tell how it was hard for her to talk about it, so he put no pressure into the matter and just let her talk at her own pace. "It went on for some time, I was afraid to tell my parents, afraid they wouldn't believe me or that it would get worse. When... When I presented as an omega I spent all my savings on contraceptive pills and suppressants, and I didn't spend the money I was given for lunch to save up for them. They were really expensive back in the day but I wasn't stupid, I knew how to prevent unwanted pregnancies and heats," Harry was having a hard time keeping his own tears from escaping his eyes while Anne's were silently running down her cheeks already. For the first time since they met, Anne wasn't looking into his eyes as she spoke.

"I had a really good friend then, we still are, his name is Robin. He was slightly older than me and he would be my confidant and, although I would never tell him specifically what was that was happening to me, he always knew something was wrong. He was the sweetest, still is," She truly smiled for the first time since starting her story. It looked like that man was really good and kind to her and Harry already liked him.

"There was one month when I was thirteen, that I had to choose between my suppressants and my contraceptive pills because the money I had wasn't enough for both. I couldn't go up to my parents and ask for money because they would be horrified if they knew what it was for... So I chose the pills over the suppressants and a couple of days after I went into heat," she had to take a few deep breaths before continuing. The story was taking an emotional toll on her heart and also on Harry's.

"I... I don't know what happened; if the pills were defective, if my heat overcame them but... A month after it I found out I was pregnant," she smiled again, with a hint of a bittersweet feeling. "I hid it, you, for as long as I could, and it was on my fourteenth birthday, when I was five months along, that Jeffrey found out. I... I was changing into more casual clothes to go celebrate when he barged into my room and saw my bump. He... I... He hit me so hard that day. I had never seen him so mad, he was furious. It was a miracle that he didn't hit you in that fit he threw but even then, I ended up in the hospital. He lied and he forced _me_ to lie as well. He said I fell down the stairs and forced me to say that my baby... That you were Robin's. My parents knew he and I were friends and that he was also an alpha so it wouldn't be completely unbelievable. I... I remember talking to Robin while at the hospital, begging for him not to tell my parents and him... That day I found out I was in love with him, he... He took the fault. He told his parents you were his... He took the blame," she smiled again and Harry wished that Robin was Anne's current mate because how could a teenager be so brave and so in love? Robin had been truly selfless.

"Soon enough our parents started discussing our future and what would happen to you. I heard them discuss abortion with the doctors but they told them I was too far along for it to be legal, so they said they would give you up as soon as you were born. I didn't crumble at that moment because the doctor came into my room with an ultrasound machine to check on you and see if you were fine... That moment, when I saw you there in black and white and with your tiny heart beating away... I have yet to find something that makes me feel like that again," Harry smiled as he finally allowed his tears to run down his cheeks, completely clueless as to how he should feel about it. Anne talked about him with such love in her voice, even if he had been a result of such a big trauma.

"From then on my pregnancy was labelled high risk and I was to be under complete bed rest. Doctors had found a subchorionic haematoma nearby and at that time well... It was really dangerous. Those four and a half months until you arrived were the calmest of my life. Because I was in bed rest and well, pregnant, Jeffrey stood aside and didn't bother me. He wanted nothing to do with you so he went back to Manchester for a couple of months, all while Robin and I grew closer. He'd visit me after school and I finally opened up to him about what had happened. He got so mad but he promised me he wouldn't go and hunt down Jeffrey. Besides, robin was seventeen, Jeffrey was twenty-two, and although they were both alphas well... You could guess who would be the one to lose," Harry nodded lightly, still juggling all the information as it came upon his head. Anne had suffered so much during her adolescence and he couldn't help but feel even guiltier that he hated her for so long, all without knowing her side of the story.

"Then you were born. Robin got to meet you and spend one of those three days with us. Your middle and last names, Edward and Styles, are after him. His full name is Robin Edward Styles and I wanted you to be his so badly that I wrote a letter to the orphanage and stuck it in between you and the blanket, asking them to name you Harry Edward Styles, after him," Harry sobbed at that, loving the fact that his name had a meaning, that he was named after such an amazing person. He decided it right then that he needed to meet Robin someday. He wanted to say so much to Anne, to comfort her, to hug her again, but he knew he had to let her finish.

"A month after you were born, Jeffrey came back from Manchester and well, all... All the abuse began again, only that there were more hitting and... name-calling this time. He was really unhappy with the fact that I had gotten pregnant. This time though, I was always careful to have both my suppressants and my contraceptive pills and took them rigorously, never missing one. I never wanted to go through losing a child ever again. I grew distant from everyone except for Robin. I wouldn't talk to my parents, not even to my older sister and... Basically, I just endured everything alone. Robin wanted to help, insisted that I had to talk to someone about it but I always kept my mouth shut," she sighed. It was as clear as water that she had gotten emotional over the story, over their past. "Two years later I got pregnant again. Jeffrey had gone off to Manchester for two months and I thought that maybe I could stop taking my contraceptive pills for the time being. I just... I wanted to give my body a break after so many years of taking them. However he... He came back to London earlier than expected and I couldn't start them again on time. Luckily, he went off to live in America soon after I found out, so at least he wouldn't be a problem anymore," Harry was feeling so many things all at once, he couldn't think properly. Mainly it was anger, pure and raw anger towards the son of a bitch who had done that to Anne, who had broken her so much. He thanked the gods that he didn't know how that man, Jeffrey, looked like because if he ever ran into him he would tear his damn throat apart with his own teeth.

"On December 3rd, 1990, your sister, Gemma, was born," Anne breathed in deeply. "Robin and I had got together by then and we decided we would say that Gemma was his. There was nothing to lose and over the pregnancy, Robing had grown really fond of her. He did of you, too, but... We were younger, our parents took control," Anne was slowly but steadily gaining her smile back, thinking about her daughter. "This time though, Robin and I stood up for what we wanted. I didn't want anyone to separate me from my children ever again so we escaped. Robin and I went to live with his grandparents which were the sweetest people on earth, and we raised Gemma together as a family. Well, that's basically the end of the story," She put on a tight smile and looked at her son, who was clearly trying to decipher everything that was told to him.

"I... I have a sister?" He asked her dumbly as the name Gemma was one of the first things he picked up that made sense and didn't contribute to the growing pile of anger and hatred that took place in the pit of his stomach.

"You do. And two little nephews. They are all wonderful and when we told her about you she was so excited. She was the one that pushed me into contacting you. I bet she's chewing off her nails right now," Anne giggled a tiny bit, finally letting the atmosphere lighten up around them.

"I... Anne, I... All my life I put the blame of my disastrous life on your shoulders. Well, on my idea of you's shoulders. And when I read the letter you left alongside me... I just had all this anger and awful emotions that I needed to rest on somebody. Now I know where they belong," Harry was so mad he was actually chewing on his lips, trying to calm down. His inner alpha was taking over him and he really, truly didn't want that to happen because when it did, bad things happened.

"Harry..." Anne said cautiously, noting how her son's pupils were getting darker and darker.

"Be careful I never see a picture or hear from that asshole again because I swear that if I do, I will break his neck with my own bare hands," he was breathing through his nose; nostrils flared as he tried to think of his omegas to calm down. He really needed Louis scent and hugs and kisses to avoid turning into a monster.

"Harry, calm down, I haven't heard from him since then. I don't think we will so rest assured you won't have to... Get to such extent," Anne placed her left hand over Harry's right forearm and that touch only was enough to help him calm down. He would feel much better though if he had his omega alongside him.

Just as if the gods had heard him, he saw his phone's screen lit up with a text from Louis, asking him how everything was going and if he needed a ride back home since the film was over and they were heading there. He didn't have to think twice before telling his omega to stop by and pick him up. He had grown so fond of Anne over their little tea meeting that he wouldn't even hesitate to let her meet Louis and Eve. She was a truly wonderful woman, admirable after everything she had gone through and he would be very happy if his omegas met her. Maybe he wouldn't tell Eve who Anne was just yet, but maybe she could just meet her and see if they got along, which Harry was sure they would. So he texted Louis an affirmative response and after seeing that in fifteen minutes he would be there, he sat down again with Anne and they talked about everything and nothing at once.

She told him about his nephews Luke and Warren, who were three years old and six months old respectively, and Harry told Anne further things about his loves, about his life, about his job. It was so nice to finally be at peace with his emotions, to be at peace with his mum. He really wanted to build up a relationship with her and he was really looking forward to meeting Gemma, Robin and his little nephews. Finally, Eve would have some kids to play with and he couldn't wait to finally have a family. From all the possible outcomes that had gone through his head before meeting up, the one that happened had outgrown all the others.

Fifteen minutes later and as promised, Louis and Eve entered the coffee shop and made a beeline towards Harry and Anne. Harry had explained to Anne that they hadn't talked about her to Eve just yet so he'd introduce her as a friend if that was okay with her. She of course agreed and when the little girl made her way towards her dad, Anne's eyes filled up with tears of joy at the sight.

"Daddy!" She exclaimed before she noticed the woman sitting across her father at the booth.

"Hey, Monkey," he greeted her, pulling her up and placing her on his lap. Eve got shy immediately and hid on her father's embrace. "Oh baby, don't be silly, she's my friend," he told his daughter.

"Is she nice?" Eve asked for his ears only and Harry smiled, completely smitten with the sweetness of his daughter. He looked up at Louis' eyes as he kneeled down to peck Harry on the lips.

"Yes, she is very nice," Harry answered his daughter and let her hide her face on his shoulder. She was really shy around strangers.

"Louis Tomlinson, so nice to meet you," Louis introduced himself, extending his hand to do a handshake.

"Anne Styles, nice to meet you, too," they smiled genuinely. "Well, Harry wasn't lying when he told me you were very handsome," Louis blushed deeply at that, retrieving his hand and standing beside Harry and Eve. "Is it possible that we've already met? I think I've seen your face before,"

"Of course you'd say that," He told his boyfriend and playfully smacked him on his nape, making him laugh.

"It's the truth," Harry smiled, dimples and all, and Louis was unable to resist from smiling back at him. His alpha was so sweet.

"I don't think so, no. Maybe through my family? We own the KTM Hospital," he said responding to Anne's question, putting all his attention on her. Judging by the brief moment they were exchanging she seemed like a lovely woman and moreover, Harry looked extremely comfortable and happy even, so Louis immediately decided he liked her.

"That's it! You're my grandsons' doctor, I think. Luke and Warren Mlynowski," Anne said, remembering when her daughter said she'd take them to a consult with him not that long ago.

"You're Luke and Warren's grandma? Oh my god, sweet kids you've got there, they're awesome," he hadn't seen them in a while now with everything going on with Eve but he knew they were awesome kids. A weird feeling tried to creep up his spine when he realized he had met Harry's sister before he had got the chance to but he quickly pushed it away. They had met Anne and it had been a great day, there was no need for such a thing. "Sorry, ours is a bit shy around people she doesn't know," Louis said it without thinking much about it but it really made Harry's heart flutter. He had said _ours_ because Eve was theirs and Hadry couldn't feel better about it. "Hey... Baby, Anne is really sweet why don't you go and greet her?" Eve shyly pulled away from her father's chest and looked at the woman sitting across the booth. She had a really nice smile and although she was a stranger, Eve could tell her smile was genuine so she copied Louis and went for a handshake.

"Eve Styles, nice to meet you," Louis laughed a little at that, at how cute she sounded.

"My pleasure, darling. My name is Anne," Eve smiled shyly and went back to hiding into her father's chest, not like all the attention. "She's a total sweetheart, Harry," Anne complimented.

"Aren't you gonna say thank you?" Harry asked Eve and waited for the little "thank you" that she mumbled against his shoulder. "Are you tired, love?" She nodded, clinging tighter to her father's wide frame. "Anne, sorry but we have to get going. She gets really fussy when she's tired," he explained to his mother, standing up with a handful of Eve clung to his chest.

"It's okay, I should head home as well. It was so nice meeting you, I look forward to seeing you again," Anne said to him, itching to hug him tight and never let go but containing herself since there would be a child in between. She was so glad she had been able to chat with her son, she had known she needed it but she never knew how much up until they met.

"So do I," he kissed her cheek lightly and stood aside, letting Louis say his goodbyes before leaving the coffee shop.

That had been, by far, the most emotionally intense afternoon of Harry's life, and as hard as it had been, he wasn't regretting it. He was looking forward to being in bed with Louis and telling him all about it, tell him all he had learned about her. Hopefully, next time they met they'd be able to do it all together as the family they were, maybe even get to know his nephews. He had to ask Louis about them since he was their doctor as well. He really couldn't have wished for a better woman to be his mother and he was so happy they had found each other. He would be forever inspired by her.

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 _Word Count:_ _7787_


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